(C) Tennessee Lookout
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Stockard on the Stump: High costs, constitutional questions hold up child rape [1]
['Sam Stockard', 'Zachary Roth', 'Adam Friedman', 'More From Author', '- April']
Date: 2024-04-05
An effort to make child rape punishable by death is being questioned as unconstitutional, and it could have a hidden cost of $1.4 million that isn’t noted in the bill’s financial impact report.
In addition, the legislation by House Majority Leader William Lamberth puts Republican lawmakers in the precarious position of voting for a bill they aren’t necessarily enthused with or facing the wrath of primary opponents who could call them soft on child rape.
House Bill 1663 is “behind the budget” in the House already, meaning it can’t be taken up until the chamber passes a budget this year. In the Senate, it narrowly escaped the Judiciary Committee on a 5-4 vote, showing the Republican-controlled body isn’t exactly head over heels with the bill.
Lamberth, a Portland Republican, called it a “good bill” Thursday, saying it was “on the books” until the Supreme Court decision found it unconstitutional.
“We in Tennessee take child rape extremely seriously. It’s one of the most heinous crimes that anybody could possibly ever commit,” Lamberth said. “I cannot imagine the suffering and anguish it causes for a lifetime for a child that has been abused in that way.”
The death penalty, which is allowed now only for first-degree murder convictions, could be appropriate for child rape when factors such as criminal history, “vulnerable victims” are involved, according to Lamberth, who notes he “didn’t step into the bill lightly.”
Not all Republicans are fired up about the bill, though, and House Democratic leaders challenged the bill Thursday, saying the death penalty is not a deterrent. Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, also pointed out that people of color are more likely to face the death penalty than others.
But Sen. Jeff Yarbro was most critical of the bill.
“That legislation is unquestionably unconstitutional right now. And if someone feels they have to vote for something that’s unconstitutional, for political reasons, God help us,” the Nashville Democrat said.
If a measure to give the death penalty to child rapists becomes law, Tennessee could wind up putting people to death for child rape but forcing impregnated girls to give birth to their rapists’ babies — unless their parents can sneak them out of state for an abortion.
Meanwhile, the Public Defenders Conference submitted a letter to the Fiscal Review Committee showing 10 more assistant public defenders could be needed at a cost of $141,683 for each salary to handle 50 death penalty aggravated rape cases in one year. That’s assuming they’re capable of handling five child rape cases each, putting the total first-year cost at $1.4 million.
Fiscal Review didn’t include those figures in its financial analysis, saying only that defense costs could increase for such cases but that it couldn’t be certain about the costs because of the complexity and longevity of death penalty cases.
Executions in Tennessee are on hold at the request of Gov. Bill Lee because of problems with the protocol for administering lethal injections. Of course, we do have the electric chair available, and the idea for renewing firing squads has been broached but doesn’t appear to be going anywhere this session.
Child rape or sexual assault is more prevalent than we’d like to think, too, with 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys being victimized, according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center.
A 2003 National Institute of Justice report also found that 3 of 4 adolescents who were sexually assaulted fell victim to someone they knew. In many cases, that includes family members.
Oddly enough, if this measure becomes law, Tennessee could wind up putting people to death for child rape but forcing impregnated girls to give birth to their rapists’ babies, unless their parents can sneak them out of state for an abortion.
The irony is a harsh reality in Tennessee.
Hashing it out – maybe
Hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line, along with the future of public education in Tennessee, as lawmakers haggle behind the scenes over private-school vouchers.
It’s really the only thing keeping this General Assembly in session, and they keep going – ad nauseam – because Republican leaders don’t appear to have the votes to pass it.
House and Senate leaders said this week they’re going to have to sit down and ask the other side what they can handle and what they can’t.
And so far, weirdly, a testing reduction in the House bill and an open enrollment provision for public schools in the Senate bill are the sticking points.
Never mind the fact the two bills are tens of millions of dollars apart and differ dramatically from the governor’s proposal, which would kick in universal vouchers in the second year.
The House plan costs more than $400 million, mainly because of a proposal to pay more for teachers’ insurance coverage, an idea to bring them into the fold and one that doesn’t seem to be working.
Meanwhile, the Senate, which has four floor sessions scheduled next week, approved a bill Monday to get rid of the state’s Achievement School District because it just didn’t work after about six years and a billion dollars. That provision is mixed in with the House bill, potentially a carrot for lawmakers who believe the ASD – made up mainly of Memphis charter schools – is a failure.
A fourth-grade retention bill similar to the third-grade measure that passed last year could be a factor, too, though the chambers are miles apart on it.
One line of thinking among voucher critics is that the more items the Senate passes that are in the House bill, the less rank-and-file House Republicans will like it.
The ultimate question, though, is whether House members are more scared of their school district folks, who in most cases are the largest employers in rural counties, or the dark money forces that will come after them if they vote against vouchers.
And make no mistake, one side will come after them no matter how they vote. The outcome will probably depend on how well they can sleep after punching the yes or no button – if it ever comes to that point.
Nevermind
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd resigned this week after violating bond on witness coercion and harassment charges by testing positive for cocaine use.
The move averted the need for a joint session of the House and Senate Thursday morning to remove her from the post, although lawmakers had to gavel and gavel out because they’d scheduled the joint proceeding.
But even with Boyd stepping down, the impact on Shelby County’s judicial system could be felt for years, since Circuit Court Judge Mary Wagner was elevated to the Tennessee Supreme Court recently.
Some lawmakers, including House Speaker Cameron Sexton, have accused Shelby County’s criminal courts of doing next to nothing the last few years.
It stands to reason the court system would do even less if it loses the seats held by Boyd and Wagner. Yet the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a measure this week sponsored by Sen. Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains on the other side of the state that would remove those two seats from Shelby. Niceley used a 2019 report to argue that Shelby has too many judges.
Sen. Brent Taylor, a Memphis Republican pushing harsher crime and punishment, criticized Niceley’s bill in committee, pointing out Shelby County suffered through 400 murders last year and its mayor was recently accosted.
“By no measure could anybody think Shelby County does not need judges,” Taylor said.
Justin Joy of the Memphis Bar Association also told the committee that removing judgeships “will only make this problem worse.”
The bill passed, nevertheless, on a 5-3 vote and heads next to the Finance committee where, possibly, cooler heads could prevail.
Every once in a while
It’s rare to see a bill die on the House floor, though that could be the outcome if and when the private-school voucher hits in late April.
But Rep. William Slater, R-Gallatin, and Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Nashville, had the dubious distinction this week of seeing bills fail.
Slater’s bill would have given state employees six weeks off from work when they take on foster children. For anyone not paying attention, the Department of Children’s Services has come under fire the last two years for its miserable handling of foster kids. Folks tell me the management is weak – at best.
The biggest problem, though, is Tennessee doesn’t have enough people willing to take on foster children, who often come with a lifetime of problems. Slater’s bill was designed to provide a small remedy, and some lawmakers called it “pro-family.”
But it hit a wall when Reps. Tom Leatherwood of Arlington and Bryan Richey of Maryville argued that it could lead to abuse by foster parents. That’s a nice tip of the hat to state employees who, no doubt, are toiling for six-figure salaries.
A few minutes later, Freeman lost in a 33-46 vote with 13 abstaining after he tried to pass a bill allowing alcohol to be sold at 8 on Sunday mornings. He might have forgotten to explain that the bill was permissive, allowing local governments to opt in.
Freeman explained that some people like to enjoy a mimosa at a restaurant on Sunday mornings while they’re watching an overseas ballgame.
He met opposition from Rep. Bud Hulsey, who claimed Freeman was expanding access to alcohol and with his next bill would be training bartenders to identify victims of sexual abuse, or something like that. Rep. Ron Gant, who was almost killed and sustained serious injuries in a crash with a drunk driver last year, complained that Legislature was saturating the state with alcohol and asked Freeman whether they would be serving drinks at his Little League park’s games.
Freeman responded that they don’t serve alcohol at his Little League park. “Do they at yours?” he asked.
But alas, the bill went down in flames.
Folks will have to keep buying booze on Saturday nights and mixing their own drinks on Sunday mornings, which, by the way, is a heck of a lot cheaper than getting a mimosa at an East Nashville eatery. Can I get an amen?
Rose opens door?
The Tennessee Lookout asked House Speaker Sexton five weeks ago if he was considering a run for the state’s 7th Congressional District post. He responded that U.S. Rep. John Rose holds that seat, even though the Lookout heard at the time Rose was thinking about a gubernatorial run.
Well, State Affairs reported this week Rose is studying a run for gov. Does that open a slot for Sexton, the question was posed Thursday? (The first time, he said he wouldn’t talk about running for this or that during the session.)
Sexton chuckled and said, “For a lot of people,” and he pointed to Rep. Johnny Garrett and Lamberth.
It took State Affairs reporter Andy Sher to answer the question: “He’s not running for anything. He’s running from things,” which drew a pretty good laugh from the peanut gallery.
“So I’m quoting you now, Andy?” the Lookout reporter responded, possibly the hardest the Stump has chuckled this week.
And still, Sexton hasn’t answered the question.
Watch your breathing
You never know when you might be inhaling silver iodide or some other noxious chemicals from cloud seeding and other forms of geoengineering.
Be careful when you go into the deep woods, too, because you never know when you’ll run into Sasquatch, Bigfoot or a Yeti pissed off about breathing chemtrails released through some secret federal experiment designed to make it rain. And we thought former Titans defensive back Adam “Pacman” Jones was the only one who liked to “make it rain.”
Anyway, Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, passed the dreaded “chemtrails” bill Monday night (although he said it had nothing to do with those white trails coming from jets), basing his argument on solar radiation management, marine cloud brightening and a federal NASA research plan.
First, though, the House (yes, shocker alert, they killed something else) voted down Rep. John Ray Clemmons’ amendment to stop the release of chemicals that could affect Sasquatch and his cousins.
The amendment led Leader Lamberth to ask Clemmons in all seriousness, “Do you believe in Bigfoot?” (Should that be capitalized?)
“About as much as I believe in a conspiracy about contrails,” Clemmons responded.
And off they went into a 30-minute discussion about Sasquatch.
Finally, Fritts got the chance to defend his bill, saying he was bothered that lawmakers would take something such as clear air and clean water and “make a laughingstock of it.”
“What goes up must come down,” he said.
“Ride a painted pony / Let the spinning wheel spin.” *
(*”Spinning Wheel,” Blood, Sweat and Tears)
[END]
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