Death Penalty for Rape of a Child?

Can the death penalty be imposed for the rape of a child, where the child is not killed? Since Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977), the answer has appeared to be no. In military cases, whether the child rape case is "referred capital" is frequently addressed during the referral process, and if not then, the military judge want's to know. And Coker v. Georgia is cited as the reason that there is no capital referral. There may be a shift coming. The U.S. Supreme Court is awaiting a reply in the Petition for Certiorari of Patrick v. Louisiana. The Louisiana Supreme Court, in affirming the findings and sentence had this to say:

"Looming over this case is the potential for the defendant to be the first person executed for committing an aggravated rape in which the victim survived since La. R.S. 14:42 was amended in 1995 to allow capital punishment for the rape of a person under the age of twelve."

Because this is a child sexual abuse case, there is a looming Crawford v. Washington issue also.

More to come.