Florida House backs death penalty in child rapes
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida House late Thursday passed a bill that seeks to allow the death penalty for people who commit sexual batteries on children under age 12.
The House voted 95-14 to approve the measure (HB 1297), sponsored by Rep. Jessica Baker, R-Jacksonville.
The Senate is scheduled to take up its version of the bill (SB 1342) on Tuesday.
The proposal comes after longstanding U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court rulings that have said it is unconstitutional to execute defendants in rape cases, including a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Louisiana case. But Baker said she hopes the bill will prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the issue and determine that defendants can be executed for raping children.
"The rape of a child is a deliberate, methodical act," she said. ""It doesn't happen accidentally." But Rep. Mike Gottlieb, a Davie Democrat who is a criminal defense attorney, questioned passing a bill that conflicts with legal precedents.