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	Predator Death Penalty Endorsed Legislature: Revised House Bill Toughens Sentences for Child Molesters By Karen Brooks Dallas Morning News [Austin TX] March 6, 2007 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/DN-sexoffenders_06tex.ART.State.Edition2.448966a.html The House endorsed death sentences for habitual child predators and harsher penalties for other offenders on Monday after lawmakers spent all weekend trying to fix the politically popular bill in peril. The legislation known as "Jessica's Law" would remove the statute of limitations from most sex offenses against children and create a new felony in Texas – continuous abuse of a child, defined as at least two offenses over at least 30 days. That crime would carry a mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison for a first conviction. A second conviction would be a capital offense, eligible for life in prison without parole or the death penalty. "This law gives more tools in a prosecutor's toolbox to allow them to go after the true pedophiles in our society," said Georgetown Republican Rep. Dan Gattis, a former prosecutor who shepherded the measure through nearly four hours of debate. "Those that commit acts on children – multiple children or multiple acts on the same child – and make sure [that person] gets put away for as long as possible." The legislation, named for a Florida girl killed two years ago and part of a nationwide move to toughen penalties for sex offenders, was approved, 118-23. Every "no" vote was cast by a Democrat – many of whom said they worried it wouldn't deter the crime, but the reporting of it. "It does more damage to our children than good," said Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas. "I'm afraid it will stop children from actually saying that a person has sexually assaulted them. "If it's a close family member, I don't believe they'd be willing to give the information because of the death penalty. My goal is to do things to help our children, not hurt them." The House is expected to give the legislation – a top priority for Gov. Rick Perry and other legislative leaders – final approval today and send it to the Senate, which is expected to pass its own version. Lawmakers would then try to work out a compromise. Democrats tried to strip out the death penalty but were rebuffed by more than two-thirds of House members. In addition to concern that child victims wouldn't come forward, Democrats said they fear that offenders might have an incentive to kill a child to eliminate a witness if the death penalty is already on the table. Mr. Gattis said questions about the constitutionality of applying the death penalty are addressed in language that allows for life in prison if courts strike capital punishment from the bill. The Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty is applicable only in cases where the victim is killed, but Jessica's Law advocates hope the court would rule differently in cases in which the victim is a child. Also of concern to criminal justice experts are the costs of greatly expanding prison sentences and monitoring of sex offenders, a separate provision under consideration in the Legislature. State budget analysts have projected little new cost from the bill that was approved Monday, but state prisons are already nearly full, so policymakers face difficult choices on what to do with offenders. The bill nearly died on the House floor last week after GOP Rep. Debbie Riddle of Tomball, its sponsor, couldn't answer questions about multiple offenses, exemptions for consensual sex, and the constitutionality of applying the death penalty to a nonmurder crime. Over the weekend, Mr. Gattis and Ms. Riddle also worked with Rep. Harold Dutton, a Houston Democrat who chairs the House juvenile justice committee, and Rep. Jerry Madden, a Plano Republican who leads the House Corrections Committee, to overhaul the bill. The resulting rewrite addressed the concerns most members had when they voted overwhelmingly last week to delay the bill until Monday, Ms. Riddle said. Continuous sexual abuse of a child is defined as more than one assault of a child younger than 14 over a period of 30 days or more. A second offense would bring the death penalty or a life sentence with no chance of parole. But a second offense involving just one assault would not, a compromise that most House members endorsed. Aside from the death penalty, the new legislation would: • Increase penalties for certain first-time child sex offenders, including those charged with indecency with a child. • Exempt the "Romeo and Juliet" scenario in which two teens have consensual sex, as long as they are not more than five years apart in age and as long as the younger child isn't younger than 14. • Prohibit early release from prison or parole for first-time violent child sex offenders. • Strip the statute of limitations for most child sex crimes. The bill would apply to offenses committed after Sept. 1, 2007. The Senate's version, which has yet to be considered, includes a provision that would add a minimum 25-year sentence for first-time child sex offenders. Monday's vote was the first major hurdle for Jessica's Law in Texas. The original Jessica's Law – which generally carries 25-year mandatory minimum sentences for child-sex offenders, lifetime electronic monitoring and 2,000-foot safety zones around parks and schools – passed in Florida in 2005 after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was sexually assaulted and murdered. The man on trial in the case is a convicted sex offender. Dozens of other bills under consideration by the Legislature would greatly expand monitoring programs for sex offenders and further restrict where they can live and travel. Mr. Gattis said lawmakers would probably approve about $3 million to upgrade monitoring systems already in use. More than a dozen states have implemented versions of Jessica's Law, and Florida, Montana, Louisiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina have given prosecutors the go-ahead to seek the death penalty. Those states have reported costs ranging from $1 million to $130 million, although Ms. Riddle and legislative fiscal analysts have said her bill would cost next to nothing. Contact: kmbrooks@dallasnews.com Staff writer Emily Ramshaw contributed to this report.
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