Justices to Decide if Rape of a Child Merits Death
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/washington/05scotus.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether the Constitution allows the death penalty for the rape of a child.
The new case, from Louisiana, is likely to be argued in April, meaning that during the course of its current term, the Supreme Court will be examining both the most common method of execution and a categorical question about which crimes are appropriate for the death penalty.
No one has been executed in the United States for a crime other than murder since 1964. Of some 3,300 inmates of death row today, only one is facing execution for an offense that did not involve a killing. He is Patrick Kennedy, the Louisiana inmate whose appeal the justices agreed to hear. Mr. Kennedy was convicted and sentenced to death in 2004 for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/washington/05scotus.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin