LEGAL METHODS AND RESEARCH
ASSIGNMENT 2 – CASE BRIEF: ROPER V. SIMMONS
SHANNON MAHER – 14401402
The case of Roper v. Simmons 543 US 551 (2001) involves two parties; Christopher Simmons, the offender, and Donald P. Roper. The facts of the case are as follows: Simmons conspired to break into his neighbour’s house and murder the tenant, Shirley Crook, with his two younger friends, Tessmer and Benjamin, aged 16 and 15 respectively. Tessmer backed out of the plan prior to the crime being committed. Simmons and Benjamin broke into the victim’s house. Simmons and Benjamin kidnapped Crook and bound her with duct tape and electrical wire. The offenders threw the victim into a nearby river where Crook died. Simmons, 17, bragged about his wrongdoings
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The trial judge imposed the death penalty. Simmons age was not disregarded as a mitigating factor but instead it was considered an aggravating factor. The prosecutor stated; “Age, he says. Think about age. Seventeen years old. Isn't that scary? Doesn't that scare you? Mitigating? Quite the contrary I submit. Quite the contrary." His direct appeal and subsequent petitions for state and federal post-conviction relief were rejected. Following this, Simmons filed a new petition for state post-conviction relief. Simmons based his argument upon Atkins’ reasoning, that is, if “a punishment is "excessive," [it is] therefore prohibited by the Amendment, if it is not graduated and proportioned to the offense” Simmons argues that the Constitution prohibits the execution of an offender who is under the age of 18 at the time the crime was committed. The Missouri Supreme Court agreed and set aside Simmons’ death sentence. Simmons was resentenced to "life imprisonment without eligibility for probation, parole, or release except by act of the Governor.” This held as in the case of Stanford it was stated that “capital sentences for 16- and 17-year-olds establishe[d] a societal consensus that such sentences are