I caught this story in The WaPo today regarding the murder of a Lansdowne man and the rape and aggravated malicious wounding of the man’s wife. I hadn’t heard about the story before (been watching Richmond-area news recently), and I actually paid attention to the story. These two parts caught my eye:
A 17-year-old Loudoun County youth was indicted for first-degree murder Tuesday in the March beating death of a man walking with his wife in the Lansdowne area and also charged with aggravated malicious wounding for the critical injuries inflicted on the man’s wife during the attack.
At a preliminary hearing in Loudoun juvenile court last week, a Loudoun sheriff’s investigator testified that Ayala claimed he was merely the driver for two other young men, who leapt out of a van driven by Ayala on the morning of March 22. Ayala reportedly told the investigator that while he waited in the darkness, his two friends beat William Bennett, 57, and Cynthia Bennett, 55, along Riverside Parkway, and that he later helped the two burn their bloody clothes.
[...]
Ayala cannot be charged with capital murder because he is a juvenile. The Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty cannot be imposed on anyone younger than 18.
Wrong, please try again WaPo.
Yes, while it is true that the Supreme Court of the United States did find the death penalty to be “cruel and unusual punishment” for crimes committed by juveniles in Roper v. Simmons, that does not stop a prosecutor from pursuing a capital murder charge against a juvenile.
You may be asking what’s the point of pursuing a capital murder charge against a juvenile if you can’t fry him? Well, under Virginia law, a capital murder charge for a juvenile carries a mandatory life sentence if convicted. Capital murder is punished as a Class 1 felony (§ 18.2-31) and § 18.2-10(a) specifically mentions juveniles:
(a) For Class 1 felonies, death, if the person so convicted was 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense and is not determined to be mentally retarded pursuant to § 19.2-264.3:1.1, or imprisonment for life and, subject to subdivision (g), a fine of not more than $100,000. If the person was under 18 years of age at the time of the offense or is determined to be mentally retarded pursuant to § 19.2-264.3:1.1, the punishment shall be imprisonment for life and, subject to subdivision (g), a fine of not more than $100,000.
A first-degree murder charge, on the other hand, is punished as twenty years in prison to life (§ 18.2-10(b)). Not quite the same as a mandatory life sentence, now is it?
Filed under: "Journalists", Guest Columnists, Loudoun County Politics, Media, The WaPo
