Louisiana Supreme Court Decision in Kennedy Case
A decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court resulted in Supreme Court litigation that expanded the Coker decision.
On May 22, 2007, the Louisiana Supreme Court held that it is constitutional to impose the death penalty for rape where the rape victim is a child. Ruling on an appeal brought in the case of defendant Patrick Kennedy, Justice Jeffrey Victory wrote for the court that the Louisiana law allowing the imposition of the death penalty under those circumstances was consistent with Coker because an aggravating circumstance—the age of the victim—justified the death penalty.
The case was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 (Kennedy v. Louisiana), thus expanding Coker to say that the death penalty is unconstitutional in all cases that do not involve murder.
Read more about this topic: Coker V. Georgia
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