"For the crime of aggravated rape, this court sentences...

"For the crime of aggravated rape, this court sentences you to death." With those words from Judge Ross LaDart, a man became the 1st person sentenced to death for rape in the United States since 1977, when the nation's highest court banned the death penalty for the rape of an adult. On August 23 (see) a Jefferson Parish jury convicted the man of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter in 1998 and recommended death, opening a new question of law that will be decided on appeal.