USA - Oklahoma. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and the Judiciary OKs HB 2965, a death penalty for child rapists.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and the Judiciary OKs HB 2965, a death penalty for child rapists. The panel sent HB 2965, which already has passed the House, to a hearing before the full Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee. House Bill 2965 would allow for the death penalty for someone convicted of raping a child age 6 or younger if the perpetrator had been convicted of a felony previously for which the punishment included a term of 10 years or more in prison. Senate author Anthony Sykes, R., says he hopes the law might be upheld since the court makeup has changed since its 2008 ruling that a similar law in Louisiana was unconstitutional (see the Kennedy v. Louisiana case, June 25, 2008).