Category Archive for : ‘U S SUPREME COURT DECISIONS’

December 29, 2020
Stephanie Pagones
Fox News

California inmates convicted of nonviolent sex crimes may be eligible for early parole consideration as part of a ballot measure that nearly two-thirds of voters approved four years ago, the state’s Supreme Court recently ruled.
The 2016 initiative was never intended to cover sex offenders, former California Gov. Jerry Brown, who championed the effort, has said. But lower courts ruled that the plain language of the initiative means they cannot be excluded from consideration as nonviolent offenders, and the high court agreed on Monday.
“The initiative’s language provides

Patrick Kennedy, 43, raped an 8 year old girl and now the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that he may be executed for the rape.  Both sides say the sentence could expand a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that held the death penalty for rape violated the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.  The high court said then that its ruling applied only to adult victims.  Louisiana law allows the death penalty for the aggravated rape of someone less than 12 years old.  Kennedy was convicted in 2003 of