Upshur DA comments on recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions

By PHILLIP WILLIAMS
A Texas law providing the death penalty for certain cases of child rape could be jeopardized "on its face" by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down a similar law in Louisiana this week, said Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd.

The Texas statute was "more narrowly drawn" than Louisiana's in that the Texas law only applies to repeat offenders, Byrd said Thursday. However, he said it "appears" that the Supreme Court would also hold the Texas statute unconstitutional if it considered that law.

Byrd on Thursday termed Wednesday's court ruling in the Louisiana case a "setback" for child rape victims, and victims' rights advocates.

The Texas law took effect only last Sept. 1, said Byrd, and "when this law was passed, I was behind it 100 percent, and would have applied it."

"Sexual predators like these should be given the harshest punishment" allowed by law, he said.

Byrd said Friday the court's finding that only crimes in which someone dies merit the death penalty will probably invalidate the Texas law, although it's not a certainty.

"(The) court's words were (that) there was a distinction between intentional first-degree murder and non-homicide crimes," Byrd had said Thursday.

The court found that sexual assault couldn't compare to the severity and irrevocability of murder, he said. The Louisiana law allowed capital punishment for any sexual assault of a child under 12, even if the defendant hadn't previously committed such a crime, said Byrd.

The Texas statute (House Bill 8) permits death by lethal injection for any rape of a child under 6—or certain rapes of children under age 14—only if the defendant has a prior conviction for such an offense, he said.

The charge is called "super-aggravated sexual assault," and carries a sentence of 25 years to life for the first offense, Byrd said.

It applies to rapes of children under 14 in which there was either threat of serious injury or death; use of a deadly weapon or "date rape" drug; or acting in concert with others, such as gang rape, Byrd said.

"Our statute was designed to get at the true predators," Byrd said Friday. Texas must now "unfortunately" revise its statute due to the Louisiana case ruling, the prosecutor said Thursday.

Byrd had a much different view of another ruling by the court Thursday—the landmark decision that individuals may keep guns for self-defense in their homes.

The court did so by nullifying the District of Columbia's longtime ban on handguns by a 5-4 vote.

Byrd said that was "absolutely" a good ruling. Texas law allows persons with permits to carry concealed weapons, and Byrd said that right was needed for self-defense.

He also said he thought the Second Amendment gives persons the right to defend property, "their life and their family."

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