All options are on the table for the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney in the case of a man accused of raping a four-year-old child, including a punishment not carried out for that crime in more than 60 years. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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A back-up defensive tackle for LSU is off the team, but the Tigers’ starting center has a good chance to play Saturday against Florida. Jeff Palermo has the story.
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With the blessing of Attorney General Liz Murrill, the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office is considering seeking the death penalty against a man who allegedly raped a four-year-old child, infecting that child with a sexually transmitted disease. 25-year-old Anthony Jelks is charged with first-degree rape and is behind bars without bond. District Attorney Hillar Moore says the biggest obstacle in pursuing the death penalty against Jelks is a 2008 Supreme Court decision that ruled that executing someone for a crime in which the victim did not die amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
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Moore says while many states which had statutes on their books allowing for the death penalty in cases of child rape or other crimes in which the victim survived, Louisiana took a different approach.
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Louisiana also allows for chemical castration; and as of last year, the state also allows for surgical castration in certain sexual assault cases. Moore says his office is also considering one of these punishments if the death penalty is off the table.
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Moore says the child contracted chlamydia. It is not a permanent infection, and Moore says the child will make a full recovery. The last time someone was executed in the United States for a rape in which the victim lived to tell about it was 1964.
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Florida will soon become the first state in the country to exempt all children from routine childhood vaccines as a condition of enrolling in school. Senator Bill Cassidy, who’s a medical doctor by trade, says it’s a bad decision.
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Cassidy says he’s not the only Republican who’s concerned about that move by Florida.
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Cassidy says the childhood vaccines, like the ones for measles, mumps and rubella, have been administered for years; and up until now, school districts in all 50 states have required them.
Cassidy says Florida Senator Rick Scott pointed out that parents in that state cal already opt their kids out of vaccines for religious reasons, although no major religion explicitly prohibits vaccines.
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The Humane Society of Louisiana is challenging you to perform at least one random act of kindness to animals over the course of the next 30 days. Founder and Director Jeff Dorson has some ideas for you.
Dorson says this is the first year that the Humane Society is doing the “Be Kind To Animals 30-Day Challenge,” and it comes at a time when Louisiana is facing challenges such as overpopulation, stray animals and limited resources for shelters.
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You’re encouraged to take a video and post it onto social media. Dorson says he’s doing the same thing.