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Birth Of Simmons
Simmons didn’t have such a good life growing up. His stepfather, Bob Hayes had problems with alcoholic. Bob Hayes had abuse Simmons but physically and emotionally when he was a child. Hayes was known for screaming at Simmons and beating him severely. They were was one incident that when Simmons was a toddler Hayes took him fishing and tied him to a tree so that Hayes could go fishing without having to worry about Simmons. Another event was brought Dr. Robert Smith attention while he was evaluati -
Backround Contiuned.
evaluating Christopher Simmons for psychological problems. This was one of his friends stated that she saw Bob Hayes Hit Simmons so hard in the Ear that blood trickled down the side of his neck. Later the discovered that his eardrum had burst due to the physical abuse of his step father. http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/juvCSimmons.cfmhttp://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/juvCSimmons.cfm -
Thomas v Oklahoma
The supreme court said that it is constitutional to give the death sentence to people who were fifteen years or younger at the time of the crime. This case was about a fifteen year old boy named William Wayne Thompson who committed murder. The Oklahoma sentencing court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma agreed with that decision. But at the Supreme Court Level a 5-3 decision was made that Thompson’s execution would go against the 8th Amendment -
Thomas v Oklahoma conti.
execution would go against the 8th Amendment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_v._Oklahoma -
The Crime
Simmons and his two friends met at 2 a.m. Talked over the plan again when Tessmer dropped out. But Simmons and Benjamin did not. They entered Shirley Crook house by reaching through an open window and unlocking the back door. Ounce Simmons was inside he turned on a hallway light that awakened Mrs. Simmons. She called out “Who’s there?” Simmons entered her bedroom and recognized her her from a car accident involving the two of them. The two then duct taped and cover her eyes and mouth and and tie -
The Crime Conti.
taped and cover her eyes and mouth and and tied her hands up. They then carried her to her minivan which they then drove to the state park. They then tied her hand and feet with electrical wire, ducted tapper her whole face and then threw her off the bridge. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZO.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roper_v._Simmons -
Making The Plan
Christopher Simmon in 1939 at the age of seventeen made a plan to murder Shirley Crook, with two of his friends Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer. This plan was to commit burglary and murder by breaking and entering, tying up the the victim and tossing her off the railway that spanned over the Meramec River. http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZO.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roper_v._Simmons -
Atkins V Virgina
The Supreme Court of of the United States ruled 6-3 that it was against the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment to give a death sentence to a mentally retarded individual. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_v._Virginia -
Confession In Court
When the court was in trial the evidence was very overwhelming. Simmons did confess to the murder and actually did a video tape reenactment at the crime scene to show the court. Also had a testimony from Tessmer who testify against his friend Simmons say that he was planning this for weeks and also was bragging to his friends about his action on that night. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_v._Oklahoma -
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The Dissent Contiuned
"but the state cannot extinguish his life and his potential to attain a mature understanding of his own humanity."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/politics/01cnd-scot.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0 -
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Appeals Process- Supreme Court
United States Supreme Court overturned their decision made in 1989 Thomas v Oklahoma case. Justice Kennedy wrote "The age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many reasons between childhood and adulthood," and "It is, we conclude, the age at which the line for death eligibility ought to rest." He stated that “When a juvenile commits a heinous crime, the state can exact forfeiture of some of the most basic liberties," the majority held today, "but the state cannot extinguish his l -
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Appeals Process- Missouri Court
August 2003 Missouri Supreme Court
They overturned the death sentenced by a 4-3 vote. They stated that death penalty for a Juvenile is unconstitutional. They sentenced to life in prison without parole. -
Dissent
There were four people who greatly disagreed and wrote a dissent. Chief Justice William H Rehnquist, Justice Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Sandra Day O'Connor.
"The court's decision today establishes a categorical rule forbidding the execution of any offender for any crime committed before his 18th birthday, no matter how deliberate, wanton, or cruel the offense," Justice O'Connor stated in his dissent "Neither the objective evidence of contemporary societal values, nor the court's moral -
The Dissent Contiuned
societal values, nor the court's moral-proportionately analysis, nor the two in tandem suffice to justify this ruling."
While adolescents as a class are "undoubtedly less mature, and therefore less culpable" than adults, Justice O'Connor wrote, many state legislatures around the country had concluded that at least some juveniles were deserving of the ultimate penalty because of the depravity of their crimes.
Justice Scalia, in a dissent joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Thomas, said -
Effects of This Case
Before this case there were 22 executions that took place for criminals that were under 18. Although there are 19 states that permit the death penalty for minors. Only Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma executed Juveniles in the past decade. Since then there were 72 death sentences that got canceled for minors who committed crimes. Twenty-nine of them where in Texas alone and Alabama had fourteen. -
Death Sentence
Jury decide that Simmons was in fact guilty even with his clean background and age. The jury also recommended the death sentence for Simmons. Simmons moved for the trial court to set aside the sentence and conviction. Saying that his age and impulsiveness at the time along with his troubled background. He believed that these subjects should of been brought up during the trial. The motion was rejected http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_v._Oklahoma
