Florida cases seeking death penalty for child sex abuse could test precedent in Supreme Court

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Dying Penalty

Florida instances looking for dying penalty for little one intercourse abuse might check precedent in Supreme Courtroom

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 30, 2025, 10:01 am CDT

Two Florida prosecutions might check the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s 5-4 ruling in 2008 that held that the dying penalty for little one rape is unconstitutional.

Prosecutors in Palm Seaside County, Florida, filed discover earlier this month that they intend to hunt the dying penalty for Josue Mendez-Gross sales, and his roommate, Pablo Cobon-Mendez, who’re accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a 6-year-old woman, the South Florida Solar Sentinel experiences in a narrative printed by the Tampa Bay Occasions.

And in Putnam County, Florida, prosecutors indicated in June that they’ll search the dying penalty in opposition to Dimeco Henderson, who’s accused of sexually abusing two youngsters over a three-year interval.

Florida adopted the dying penalty for little one rape in 2023, the primary to take action following the 2008 Supreme Courtroom choice. Tennessee adopted in 2024, and in 2025, Idaho, Oklahoma and Arkansas handed comparable legal guidelines, the South Florida Solar Sentinel article experiences. However Florida seems to be the one state that’s looking for the dying penalty in trials for little one sex-abuse instances, in line with Robin Maher, the chief director for the Dying Penalty Info Heart, a nonprofit group primarily based in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Courtroom dominated 5-4 in June 2008 that the dying penalty for little one rape is unconstitutional underneath the Eighth Modification and the 14th Modification. Now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the bulk opinion within the case, Kennedy v. Louisiana.

The 4 justices who joined Kennedy’s opinion are retired or not alive. Three of the 4 dissenters are nonetheless on the excessive court docket: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Florida State Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Republican in Fort Myers, Florida, sponsored the Florida invoice authorizing the dying penalty for little one rape. He advised the South Florida Solar Sentinel that the regulation is designed to problem Supreme Courtroom precedent as a result of it’s completely different than the one at challenge in Kennedy v. Louisiana. The Florida regulation features a penalty part to think about aggravating and mitigating components, not like the Louisiana regulation.

Opponents of the brand new legal guidelines see a slippery slope. One critic is Michelle Suskauer, a West Palm Seaside, Florida, protection lawyer and a former president of the Florida Bar.

“The place will the road be drawn and what different prices might be included?” Suskauer requested in an interview with the South Florida Solar Sentinel.

She questioned whether or not lawmakers will observe with the dying penalty for little one pornography, for rape or for kidnapping.

“So the place does the road get drawn? You retain shifting the road, that’s a scary scenario,” she mentioned.

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