Opinion
No. 2014AP1235–CR.
2015-01-28
STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Kerry L. CHASE, Defendant–Appellant.
Chase maintains that these comments show an erroneous exercise of discretion. Chase points to Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407, 128 S.Ct. 2641, 171 L.Ed.2d 525 (2008), in which the Supreme Court held that a state may not impose the death penalty for child rape because the punishment is disproportionate to the crime. Kennedy, 554 U.S. at 435. The circuit court's choice of the homicide metaphor reflected the lasting damage Chase has done by his repeated sexual assault of his daughter. The circuit court never suggested that Chase actually committed homicide, but rather that the crime he inflicted on his daughter was severe and permanent.