Gov. Matt Blunt has entered the debate in a U.S. Supreme Court case that could decide whether the next Michael Devlin gets the death penalty.

Blunt’s office announced today it has filed an amicus brief in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the case of a man sentenced to death for raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter at their home near New Orleans.

The case would have broad implications around the U.S., and particularly in Missouri.

After Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby were rescued from their captor last year, State Sen. John Loudon announced he was sponsoring legislation that would make the kidnapping and rape of a child a potentially capital offense.

At issue in Kennedy- and in Loudon’s “Devlin Law” - is a fundamental constitutional question: Does enforcing the death penalty for a crime other than murder violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban against “cruel and unusual punishment?”

The Louisiana Supreme Court believes it doesn’t, saying in its lower-court ruling that “if the court is going to exercise its independent judgment to validate the death penalty for any non-homicide crime, it is going to be child rape.”

Blunt, essentially, makes the same argument in a press release today.

“Violent sex offenses against children are unspeakable crimes, crimes so horrific that they defy comprehension and demand harsh punishment,” Blunt said. “Crimes like these deserve the most serious punishment we can possibly deliver.”

The opposition will most likely rely on an earlier decision, Coker v. Georgia, which said that while rape is a heinous crime, only murder meets the criteria for the state’s highest penalty.

Oral arguments in the Kennedy case are scheduled for next month. It’s unclear how the timing of the case will effect the bill in Jefferson City.

If the Supreme Court strikes down the Louisiana law, it would seem to doom Loudon’s bill as well. But, knowing how deliberate the Supreme Court will be with this case, it’s unlikely a decision will come down before the legislative session ends.

Case could mean death penalty for crimes like the ones committed by Devlin