High court: Juvenile death penalty unconstitutional

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Constitution
forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, ending a practice used in 19 states.

The 5-4 decision throws out the death sentences of about 70 juvenile murderers and bars states from seeking to execute minors for future crimes.

The executions, the court said, were unconstitutionally cruel.

It was the second major defeat at the high court in three years for supporters of the death penalty. Justices in 2002 banned the execution of the mentally retarded, also citing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. ...

I have to say, I'm pretty happy about this decision. (And it's not that often that I get to say THAT about the Supreme Court.) Still 5-4 . You can read the opinion (in PDF form) here if you are interested. Of course, Scalia filed a dissenting opinion, which Thomas joined (shocking!) As did Rehnquist. And O'Connor filed a dissenting opinion as well. Still dangerous ground...I sometimes have the feeling that I was just born in the wrong generation...

But this just freaked me out: "Judge finds bodies of husband, mother in home." How horrible. Targeted for doing your job. And since it wasn't actually her, it was obviously a warning to her. Since she had been threatened in the past, and the guy was about to be sentenced, I'm surprised that they didn't have some sort of protetion. Then again, it's a month away, and who'd have thought that her 90-year-old mother would become a target. That - like hurting animals and children - takes a special kind of evil. (And what a horrible way to end a full life.)

And for those who remember my obsession with serial killers, I've been closely following this. Don't get me wrong. The BTK serial isn't anywhere near as interesting as other serial killers like Richard Trenton Chase, but I'm still following it. You gotta wonder what made BTK return after all these years away though. I mean, he's been MIA for years and years, and then pops back up. Whether this guy is him or not, the fact is that BTK returned for some purpose. Is he dying? Or just wanted to relive old memories. I get like that when I'm going through old photos. Maybe something like that??