Whether 18 U.S.C. § 242 allows the death penalty for state actor sexual assault and kidnapping under color of law, triggering an unlimited statute of limitations

QUESTION PRESENTED Where a state actor sexually assaults and kidnaps a fellow employee “under color of law,” does 18 U.S.C. § 242 proscribe as a sentencing option the death penalty, such that a limitless statute of limitations under 18 U.S.C. § 3281 applies? Here, Petitioner Harvel was charged with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 242 for allegedly sexually assaulting and kidnapping fellow employees while on a state government job. Those crimes are not capital offenses — neither kidnapping nor sexual crimes are punishable by death in the federal system where no death results. Nor did Congress intend to make them such when in 1994 it added the death penalty as a punishment for civil rights murders. Further, this Court has made clear that such punishment would violate the Eighth Amendment, therefore, Congress would not likely have knowingly promulgated an unconstitutional statute in 1994. The Sixth Circuit’s holding that 18 U.S.C. § 3281 limitless statute of limitations applies to Harvel’s crimes, because they are “punishable by death,” is an absurd reading of the statute. ii RELATED CASES Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 14(1)(b) ii), Petitioner submits these cases which are directly related to this Petition: none ili