Texas Lawmakers OK Death for Child Rape

Texas sex offenders who are twice convicted of raping children under 14 could get the death penalty under a bill state lawmakers approved Friday.

The state House passed Texas' version of "Jessica's Law," a crackdown on sex offenders who prey on children, a day after the Senate approved it.

The bill is named for Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who was abducted and killed. More than a dozen states have passed versions of Jessica's Law.

Gov. Rick Perry has said he was open to the idea of the death penalty in child sex cases and that passage of a child sex offender bill is a legislative emergency. Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said the governor will wait to read the final version of the bill before deciding whether to sign it into law.

"The purpose is to make Texas a safer place for children and a more dangerous place for their predators," said Republican Rep. Debbie Riddle, the bill's House sponsor.

Texas would be the sixth state to add the death penalty for some child rape cases, although legal experts debate whether the punishment would be unconstitutional in cases where the victim did not die. Louisiana has an inmate on death row in a child sex crime, but that case is being appealed.

Democratic Rep. Lon Burnam called child sex crimes horrendous but said the state that executes more inmates than any other should not expand its use of the death penalty.

Victim advocates have warned that adding the death penalty would do more harm than good if it leads perpetrators to kill victims to avoid leaving witness.

The bill also creates a new category of crime - continual sexual abuse of a young child or children, carrying a minimum penalty of 25 years to life in prison.

Lifers Union Advocacy Group (http://www.lifersunion.org )

Lifers Union Advocacy Group (http://www.lifersunion.org )

Joel S. Reimer, 37 who runs Lifers Union Advocacy Group from the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island
Sexually violated a 7-year-old boy in 1982 at age 13.
Raped and assaulted a 13-year-old boy at age 16 in 1985 -- just two weeks after being released for the previous crime.
Molested a 12-year-old girl in 1990 at age 21 -- less than a month after being released on the rape charge.
The Longview native was civilly committed to the state's Special Commitment Center in 1992 as the 10th man sent there. He was the first from Cowlitz County. He successfully sued the state, claiming he didn't receive adequate mental health treatment in the original Special Commitment Center. The center was located inside two state prisons before the opening of the current facility on McNeil Island in 2005. Won a $10,000 settlement but not his freedom.