A Florida man indicted on charges of sexually abusing a child under age 12 faces the death penalty in what could be the state’s first usage of new legislation that expanded capital punishment.

“The Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Office on Thursday filed court documents stating its intent to seek the death penalty against 36-year-old Joseph Andrew Giampa, who was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of sexual battery on a child under age 12 and three counts of promoting a sexual performance of a child,” Law & Crime reports.

“Given the severity of the crime and its impact on the community, the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office has filed a notice that it intends to seek the death penalty pursuant to Florida Statutes 794.011(2)(a) and 921.1425,” the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

“The decision to pursue the highest penalty reflects the gravity of the charges and the State Attorney’s Office’s dedication to holding criminals accountable for their actions. The State Attorney’s Office acknowledges the sensitivity of this matter and the impact it has on the community. Our commitment to ensuring justice and protecting the vulnerable remains unwavering,” the statement added.

According to NBC News, the punishment pursued by State Attorney William Gladson, under Florida’s new legislation that would allow crimes involving sexual battery of children to be eligible for the death penalty, will challenge prior U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Per NBC News:

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that the death penalty could not be applied to rape cases because it violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana that the death penalty was prohibited when the crime did not result in the death of the victim.

But this past spring, Florida lawmakers passed a bill that would allow crimes involving the sexual battery of children to be eligible for the death penalty, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The bill states that the Kennedy v. Louisiana decision “was wrongly decided and an egregious infringement of the states’ power to punish the most heinous of crimes.”

Giampa, 36, of Leesburg, was arrested in November. A police officer said he viewed a video of a man identified as Giampa sexually abusing a young boy, according to an arrest affidavit.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office his full support to pursue the death penalty in the case.

“Today, @flsao5 announced that they will seek the death penalty in a case of sexual battery against a child under age 12,” DeSantis said.

“It will be the first case to challenge SCOTUS since I signed legislation to make pedophiles eligible for the death penalty. @flsao5 has my full support,” he added.

Law & Crime added:

The case is certain to pose constitutional challenges as the legislation adopted and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year is patently contra to the Supreme Court’s 2008 case Kennedy v. Louisiana, which prohibits the death penalty as punishment “where no life was taken in the commission of the crime.”

“Based both on consensus and our own independent judgment, our holding is that a death sentence for one who raped but did not kill a child, and who did not intend to assist another in killing the child, is unconstitutional under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments,” the court wrote in a 5-4 opinion.

Of the four justices who dissented — Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas — three are still on the court, while all five of those who voted in the majority have been replaced, predominantly by justices whose overall judicial ideology is far more right-leaning.

The legislation’s text explicitly states that the high court’s earlier rulings on death penalty prohibitions were “wrongly decided and that such cases are an egregious infringement of the states’ power to punish the most heinous of crimes.”

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