Originally published: . Volume 13, No. 3. Source pages: 9.
HB 106 eliminates the death penalty as a possible punishment for the offenses of first degree murder, first degree rape, and treason.
Present law (R.S. 14:30) provides that any person convicted of the crime of first degree murder shall be punished by death or life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
Present law (R.S. 14:42) provides that any person convicted of the crime of first degree rape shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. However, if the victim of the first degree rape was under the age of 13 years, the district attorney may seek the death penalty. Although this provision which allowed for the offender to be sentenced to death for first degree rape was declared to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Kennedy v. Louisiana, 128 S.Ct. 2641 (June 25, 2008), this provision was never repealed from present law.
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