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The Springfield News-Leader reports, "Death penalty for rape of a child a step closer."A Senate committee passed a bill Monday granting judges and juries the power to sentence someone to death for forcibly raping or sodomizing a child younger than 12. The senators briefly considered two separate amendments -- one requiring DNA evidence and the other making the death penalty only applicable for prior sexual offenders -- but decided against creating a litmus test for a death sentence. The Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence passed the bill by a 6-1 vote, with Democratic Sen. Jolie Justus of Jackson County casting the lone vote of opposition. Gov. Matt Blunt, who stumped for the legislation earlier Monday in Springfield, called a violent sex crime against a child one of "the worst crimes that any criminal can commit...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on April 22, 2008 (boomark / email).