Louisiana | Local DA reacts to Louisiana AG’s push to bring death penalty for child rapists

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general supporting a national push to restore the death penalty for child rapists.

The effort seeks to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which barred states from imposing capital punishment in child rape cases where the victim did not die.

“As I’ve stated many times before, child rapists deserve the death penalty. The United States Supreme Court needs to reverse this egregiously wrong ruling,” Murrill said in a statement.

The letter argues the ruling was wrongly decided and stripped states of a “vital tool” to punish and deter predators.

“This is one of the most egregious crimes that can be committed. It absolutely destroys the life of a child,” Murrill said.

Local prosecutors say the move could have direct implications in cases being prosecuted now.

In Baton Rouge, 25-year-old Anthony Jelks is accused of raping a 4-year-old and allegedly exposing the child to a sexually transmitted disease.

Jelks was also rebooked this week on separate felony charges that allege he sent messages to a 9-year-old and solicited sexually explicit videos.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said he would consider the harshest penalties allowed if the facts support them.

“If the facts are there, and it’s appropriate, then I will surely seek the highest indictment that I can for first-degree rape,” Moore said.

Louisiana has a statute that could permit capital punishment in certain child-rape cases, but the state and prosecutors are bound by the Supreme Court’s current precedent unless the court reverses itself.

Any change at the high court would likely take months, if not longer, according to Moore.

For now, Moore said he and other prosecutors will continue to pursue charges under existing law and evaluate whether seeking the death penalty would be appropriate only if the law changes.

“I’m just going to look at the facts of the case and proceed as the law currently allows me, and if the law does change, then I’ll make the decision as it’s appropriate,” he said.

Source: wafb.com, Perry Robinson, October 2, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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