Christopher Simmons Case Study

Christopher Simmons, 17 at the time, was condemned to death in 1993 for murder. He exhausted all of his state and federal appeals up until 2002, meaning they were all rejected. In 2002, the Missouri Supreme Court granted Simmons a stay of execution while the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Atkins v. Virginia, a case that was held on the execution of the mentally disabled. “When the Supreme Court decided Atkins v. Virginia in 2002 (barring executions for the mentally disabled), Simmons filed a new petition. He argued that the Eighth Amendment rationale of Atkins should also bar the execution of juveniles” (Legal Dictionary, n.d.). Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision, it was decided that executing the mentally impaired abused the Eighth and

Simmons plotted this crime with some friends, who were also juveniles under age at the time. However, one of Simmons’ friends excluded himself from the plot to kill (murder), steal (burglarize), and destroy (a family). “He brought two younger friends into the plot. On the night of the murder, one friend opted out of the plan. Simmons and the remaining friend broke into the victim’s home, bound her with duct tape, drove to a bridge, and threw her over the bridge into the river below” (Legal Dictionary, n.d.). Even though Simmons confessed to committing those acts, he also reenacted it out for the police as they recorded Simmons’ account as to what happened. “They read him his Miranda rights. Simmons waived his right to an attorney and agreed to answer questions. After less than two hours of interrogation, Simmons confessed to the murder and agreed to perform a videotaped reenactment at the crime scene” (American Bar,

The United States is the only country in the world that gives official sanction to the execution of juvenile offenders. Although international norms do not govern our laws, they are instructive to the Court” (Legal Dictionary, n.d.).

“The 2005 Roper v. Simmons ruling made persons under the age of 18 the third category of persons, in addition to those who are insane and those who suffer from mental retardation, to be excluded from a sentence of capital punishment” (Elrod & Ryder, 2014).

References

American Bar. (2005, March 1). Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551. Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/events/youth_at_risk/ROPER-v-Simmons.authcheckdam.pdf

Capital Punishment in Context. (n.d.). Roper v. Simmons 543 U.S. 551 (2005). Retrieved from https://www.capitalpunishmentincontext.org/resources/casesummaries/roper?destination=node%2F46

Elrod, P., & Ryder, R. S. (2014). Juvenile justice: a social, historical, and legal perspective (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Legal Dictionary. (n.d.). Roper v Simmons. Retrieved from