Christopher Simmons at age 17 (1993) purposed a plan to murder Shirley Crook. To do so, he brought two other younger friends (Tessmer and Benjamin) into the murder plan to help him. The plan was to commit burglary and murder by breaking and entering, tying up the victim, and throwing her off a bridge to her death. He told both his friends that they would “get away with it” because they were minors. The three met up in the middle of the night to complete the plan; however Tessmer dropped out leaving Benjamin and Simmons, and the two still went through with the crime. Nine months later, after he turned 18; he was caught, tried, and sentenced to death. Simmons wanted his death sentenced removed, and approached the trial court. He said that “his
At the age of 17, Ryan Matthews was sentenced to death for the murder of convenience store owner, Tommy Vanhoose. Police failed to investigate on all evidence to convict the real killer, Rondell Love. Love shot Mr. Vanhoose four times and fled, taking off his mask and diving into the passenger side window of the getaway car. Hours after the crime, Ryan Watthews and associate, Travis Hayes (also 17) were stopped because the car they were driving in resembled the killers. A witness claimed that Ryan took part of the crime, others said he was too tall to be the suspect.
The court case Roper vs Simmons was one of the most influential Supreme Court cases that dealt with the issue of whether or not juveniles should receive the death penalty if they were under the age of 18 at the time they committed the crime. In this case, Simmons and a group of his friends planned to commit a burglary and a murder. On the night of the crime, “Simmons and his two friends entered the home of Shirley Crook. Simmons recognized Crook from a car accident they were involved in before; he “later admitted to the police that “this confirmed his resolve to murder her.” Simmons and his friends tied Crook up and put her into the truck of her car.
The Ellis’ family household is stunned to find a man named Paul Dudden was killed with a knife from a dissection kit behind a screen in the their house. Mrs.Pettigrew murdered Paul Dudden with a stolen knife from Wilfred’s dissection kit behind a screen in the Ellis’ house. Here’s how it happened. While Mrs.Hulk was closing the curtain, Mrs.Pettigrew killed Paul who was standing behind the screen.
He also tried to reach for a deputy’s gun, in which he again was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Simmons kept waiving his rights to appeal, to try to get away with being “insane”. This shows that he was for sure competent enough to think about those things, so what exactly was wrong with this man? Then finally in 1990, with Simmons accepting his fate, Bill Clinton signed his death warrant for June 25, 1990. This was the fastest sentence to death ever since the death penalty was put into
Chris McCandless, a young man from Virginia, died from potato seeds. Potato seeds/starvation is written cause of death, but there is so much more. McCandless’s supposed cause of death has changed since he died varying from mold in the seeds to an amino acid called L-canavanine. The external factors to his death include his desire to live free from the constraints of society, which was completed through both living in solitude and adopting the new persona that was Alexander Supertramp. The factors of his death vary from person to person as everyone reads his life in different perspectives.
According to the Supreme Court, in 1993, Christopher Simmons went into Shirley Crook’s home with in mind to steal and harm her. Simmons was 17 years old at the time of this crime. According to the report, Simmons had spoken to his friends of the plan to kill the family, thinking he could get away with it because of his age. According to the report, Simmons was arrested the next day, he and his friends.
In this case the only factor seen as a mitigating circumstance was his age which was the same for the case of Thomason v. Oklahoma. This is where Justice John Paul Stevens states that aspects like “inexperience, less education, less intelligence, emotions, peer pressure, and irresponsibility” were all factors as to why someone who was a juveniles during their crime doesn't deserve the death penalty. The cases dealing with mental retardation of a criminal as well suggest why someone like Simmons shouldn't get the death penalty. In the case of Penry v. Lynaugh a statement is made that says “because of their mental disabilities, mentally retarded people do not possess the level of moral culpability to justify imposing the sentence.” This case as well brings up the national consensus that is against the death penalty which was a factor in the fate of Simmons.
Faking His Own Murder Why would someone feel the need to fake their own murder? Max Powers was found murdered at his home at 3:00pm. There was no blood found on the scene and lab testing reflects that the coke he was drinking was tainted with. He had recently received 12 million dollars and all of the friends that were at his house were also in his will.
The Victim Anna Palmer, a girl of ten years old, lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, during 1998. She lived in an apartment on a busy street with her mother and older brother. As a child she would frequently voyage outside in her neighborhood with local friends. While heading home after a night of playing outside, Anna was last seen alive at 7:00 p.m. Around thirty minutes later, she was found dead, by her mother, on her front porch.
The eighth amendment is a protection for American citizens against “cruel and unusual punishment” and “excessive bail”. Roper v Simmons also violates the fourteenth amendment which addresses rights and citizenship, this became another hurdle in the case. The fourteenth amendment states “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” , in Roper v Simmons the Missouri Supreme Court was close to depriving Christopher Simmons of his life. Since Roper V Simmons states have reevaluated their minimum age for death penalty, 30 states do not even have a death penalty or capital punishment anymore. Cornell Law has also argued that because of Simmons’s age he was mentally incompetent, at the age at 17 Simmons is not eligible to “drink, serve on juries or even see certain movies…” , this was very intimidating and scary to Simmons’s prosecutor.
Childhood Killing someone for something that happened 36 years ago as a child might sound absurd, but it might not be. In “The Utterly Perfect Murder” by Ray Bradbury, a man named Doug wakes up in the middle of the night to kill his childhood “friend”, Ralph. He does not know why it took him 36 years for it to come to him, but he decides that it needs to be done. So he gets on a train, leaving his family behind. However, when Doug arrives at Ralph’s house he decides not to kill him because of the physical and mental state Ralph has deteriorated to.
Jeffrey Dahmer ~was born in 1960, Jeffrey’s father was not around much because of his job. When Jeffrey was at the age of four he was diagnosed with a double hernia. The operation scared him letting doctors explore his body. His experience is said to have marked his subconscious forever. He became very insular and lacking in self-confidence.
“Invitation to a Murder” Essay As the author of “Invitation to a murder” portrays a suspenseful tone during the story, Josh Pachter creates many situational ironies throughout the story. The setting of the story is on the evening of December 16th, 1971, at Eleanor Madeline Abbot’s home. The short story begins when Chief Inspector Lawrence A. Branigan received a letter inviting him to the murder of Eleanor Madeline Abbot’s husband, Gregory Eliot Abbot. Branigan decided to go to the event. When Branigan Arrived at the event, he realized that there were eleven other men present.
Blood was everywhere. Splattered across the alley walls, streaked down the dumpster, pooling on the ground. None of it was mine. It belonged to the dying man at my feet, an icicle lodged deep into his heart. ‘The icicle,’ I thought.
I will be explaining through the seven elements of crime whether illegal drug use, prostitution, and gambling fit the elements (Bohm & Haley, 2011). The seven elements of the crime are harm, legality, actus reus, mens rea, causation, concurrence, and punishment. Discuss in detail whether illegal drug use, prostitution, and gambling fit the seven elements of a crime from. Include in your discussion whether these three crimes should be considered mala in se or mala prohibita.