OK Ignores the Supreme Court, Seeks Death for Child Rapists

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty for child rape was unconstitutional, because it represented cruel and unusual punishment. But tell that to Oklahoma Rep. Rex Duncan. He ain't scared of no Supreme Court.

In a direct challenge to the nation's highest court to reverse a decision less than two years old, Duncan has sponsored a bill allowing capital punishment for people convicted of repeat violent sex offenses against children. An Oklahoma House committee passed the bill on Monday by a 9-1 vote.

"I think (the Supreme Court) did get it wrong," Duncan told the AP, "and I would not be surprised if other states revisit their statutes on this issue."

Oklahoma appears to be betting on the fact that the court's changed since the 2008 decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana. But that change is Sonia Sotomayor, and she doesn't appear poised to overturn a decision like this so quickly.

Oklahoma is bucking a trend with the death penalty to prove a point and to challenge the Supreme Court. This, of course, is how the law works -- and Oklahoma is perfectly within its rights to do what it's doing. It's an unwise and unjust move, however. Two problems in particular upset me about this news:

1). The law's potential hidden impact as an unconstitutional lever for prosecutors to force plea bargains. It takes years for a case to be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. If this bill were to pass, prosecutors could threaten every defendant who fits the new law with death in order to extract plea bargains for life sentences. This gives prosecutors a substantial power in a set of cases that the Supreme Court has ruled they shouldn't have, and it raises the possibility of more wrongful convictions.

2). The sheer wastefulness for political show. It is extremely unlikely that Oklahoma will ever execute someone for rape again. If this bill becomes law, prosecutors could decide to seek costly death penalty trials in child rape cases, only for the case to be overturned down the road. Lower courts will also probably strike it down as unconstitutional on its first challenge. The state then has to decide whether it wants to spend money and time fighting a case through the appeals courts, to the Supreme Court, in a long-shot attempt to lead the way on a slight broadening of the death penalty.

Oklahoma is playing with life and death to make a political statement to the Supreme Court, and it won't fly. I hope the bill fails, and that this is the last time I have to write about it.

Photo Credit: dbking