Governor Matt Blunt (R-MO) is renewing his call for the state’s worst sexual predators to be death penalty eligible. The Governor is asking the General Assembly to send him legislation that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases of forcible rape and forcible sodomy when the victim is younger than 12-years of age.
In issuing his call, Blunt noted a recent child rape case in Springfield where a 36-year-old man has been charged with kidnapping and forcibly raping and sodomizing a 7-year-old girl and leaving her for dead in a burning house. Blunt strongly believes death should be an optional penalty for child rape.
Currently Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas have laws that allow capital punishment for a violent offender convicted of child rape. Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi and Tennessee also are considering similar laws.