Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> Lawbeat

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Legal News

: Lawbeat

Riling the viewers with a pointless story

By Mark Obbie

ADVERTISEMENTS

In her 90-second broadcast report, and an accompanying text story on the Web, reporter and weekend anchor Jen Hale at Birmingham, Alabama's NBC affiliate, WVTM Channel 13, treats seriously a state legislator's proposal that flies directly in the face of last year's Supreme Court ruling barring capital punishment for raping but not killing a child. Hale's Web story starts:

Pedophiles who rape young children could face the death penalty in Alabama…if one state lawmaker gets his way.State Representative Steve Hurst of Munford in Talladega County is proposing a new law that would allow a judge to use capital punishment if someone older than 21 is convicted of raping a child 6 years old or younger.The death penalty is a punishment that - so far - has been reserved only for murderers. Should child molesters now be included?

Should they? The readers and viewers posting comments on the story certainly have loads of opinions about that (and about God and Nazis and other sundry debating standards). But could they? It's too bad Hale didn't spend a few minutes researching the question and reading about, if not reading the decision in, Kennedy v. Louisiana. Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy, who spotted this story, wonders slyly if the legislator making news with this bill has a grand strategy to achieve the national consensus that the Court in Kennedy found lacking. Alas, the legislator's excuse -- and Hale's -- is more likely just laziness and ignorance.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on February 16, 2009 (boomark / email).