Ariel Castro: Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus & Michelle Knight Case Prompts Expansion of Death Penalty?
An Ohio lawmaker is seeking to expand the state's death penalty law to cover some sex-related crimes in a proposal prompted by the case of three women who escaped captivity after being held against their will for over a decade by convicted kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro.
Rep. John Becker introduced the House Bill 244 on Aug. 16, a proposal which would allow for the death penalty in cases of rape, sexual battery and improper sexual contact with a minor if the suspect has a previous sex crime conviction. He said he wanted prosecutors to be able to seek the death penalty "in only the most heinous crimes" and only for repeat sexual offenders, according to The Associated Press.
"There's always cases out there about rapists and child molesters," he said. "I've always had this opinion that for some of those people there's no cure. They just need to be put to death...Nobody in this country has ever been executed for a sex crime, but that could change."
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Becker said the proposal is a direct result of the case of Ariel Castro, a Cleveland man who held three women captive in his home for a decade and repeatedly raped them. The former bus driver was sentenced on Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape. He is also now a registered sex offender. The 53-year-old abducted Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight individually in Cleveland between 2002 and 2004 when they were 14 to 20 years old.
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Prosecutors considered seeking the death penalty against Castro, after it was alleged that he forced one of the women to miscarry after she became pregnant during captivity, but Castro accepted a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table.
House Bill 244 will soon be referred to a House standing committee for further consideration, according to WKYC-TV.