Kennedy v.
Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. ___ (2008) was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause did not permit a state to punish the crime of rape of a child with the death penalty; more broadly, the power of the state to impose the death penalty against an individual for committing a crime that did not result in the death of the victim is now limited to crimes against the state (such as espionage). Patrick O. Kennedy, a man from suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced to death after being convicted of raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter. He has contended since the assault occurred in March 1998 that it was committed by two neighborhood boys. His attorneys have said he refused to plead guilty when a deal was offered to spare him from a death sentence. He was sentenced under a 1995 Louisiana law that allows the death penalty for the rape of a child under the age of 13.
