Texas House chairman wants child rapists eligible for death penalty

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Under current Supreme Court precedent, states cannot execute someone for raping a child if the victim survives. That’s not stopping State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-McKinney.

“We’re going to have a debate in this building behind me about the death penalty being on the table for any Texan who rapes a child,” Leach, the chair of the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, said. Leach made the comments while hosting a news conference supporting his client, abuse survivor Cindy Clemishire.

“I’m filing that legislation and having a debate in this building behind me, the People’s House, next session when we can meet in January.”

In 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in a 5-to-4 decision that the state of Louisiana could not execute Patrick Kennedy for raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter.

“(SCOTUS) said, ‘Is it grossly disproportionate? Well, we’re going to look at a lot of things. Is there a consensus of the states?” said Tom Hogan, a professor at the South Texas College of Law. “In Kennedy v. Louisiana, they said only six states still had the death penalty for rape, so they said there’s no consensus of the states.”

The decision drew criticism at the time, including from the two major presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito argued that a previous ruling in Coker v. Georgia (1977) caused state legislatures to hesitate to pass their own laws—saying it undercuts the consensus of states argument. Of the nine members who ruled on Kennedy, only Alito, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas remain. All three dissented.

“This is a hot topic for this Supreme Court and this would be the first time that this Supreme Court, with a conservative 6-to-3 majority, would be taking up a cruel and unusual punishment issue,” Hogan said. “This Supreme Court could go back to the original intent and say, ‘What was allowed at the time of the 14th Amendment? What was allowed at the time of the founding?’ A lot of punishments were allowed, and it could really open things up.”

It could take some time before this question ever reached the Supreme Court. First, a state would have to convict someone under their new law and sentence them to death. Then the case would have to work its way through the court system until it reached SCOTUS.

During the case, some victim advocacy groups argued the death penalty in child rape cases could discourage victims from reporting abuse or encourage perpetrators to kill victims to eliminate witnesses.

Texas would not be the first state to implement such a law since SCOTUS handed down Kennedy. Several states, starting with Florida in 2023, have passed laws intended to challenge the precedent. However, it could take some time before this question ever reached the Supreme Court.

First, a state would have to convict someone under their new law and sentence them to death. Then the case would have to work its way through the court system until it reached SCOTUS. While that process could take years, it’s likely to happen at some point.

“All of us who are in the legal academy are watching to see if there are going to be cases that are going to rise up,” Hogan said. “And my suspicion is there will be eventually.”

Leach’s proposal would first need approval from the Texas Legislature, where all 150 House seats are on the ballot this November.

Source: kxan.com, Adam Schwager, September 18, 2026

"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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