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| Missouri Supreme Court overturns juvenile death sentence |
| By AP |
| Published: 09/12/2003 |
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Missouri, which led a move to execute juveniles in the late 1980s, backpedaled last week as the state Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to apply death sentences to people younger than 18 at the time of their crimes. In a 4-3 decision, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Christopher Simmons, who was 17 when he killed a woman a decade ago. Instead, the court sentenced him to life in prison. The Missouri court said it based its decision on a June 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibited the execution of the mentally retarded as unconstitutionally cruel. Writing for the majority, Judge Laura Denvir Stith said it is clear that the U.S. Supreme Court also 'would hold that the execution of persons for crimes committed when they were under 18 years of age violates `the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.'' Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon, however, said the decision contradicts previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings and planned to appeal. Missouri law allowed convicted murderers as young as 16 to be sentenced to death, and attempts by lawmakers to increase the age had failed in recent years. The U.S. Supreme Court most recently addressed the issue in April, when it overruled a lower court and allowed Oklahoma to execute a man who killed two people when he was age 17. Jennifer Herndon, Simmons' attorney, said there was no conflict between the Missouri ruling and the Oklahoma decision because the high court did not directly address the issue of juvenile executions. In Simmons' case, prosecutors argued that he plotted with friends to rob and kill Shirley Crook in 1993, believing he could escape punishment because he was a juvenile. Simmons argued that he only intended to rob Crook but panicked and killed her when she saw him. Simmons' appeals did not challenge his conviction, which the state Supreme Court upheld in 1997. Tuesday's decision also could affect the case of Antonio Richardson, whose execution was stayed in 2002 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Richardson, was convicted of murdering two girls in St. Louis in 1991. He was 16 at the time. |
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