At the age of 17, when he was still a junior in high school, Christopher Simmons, the respondent here, committed murder. About nine months later, after he had turned 18, he was tried and sentenced to death. There is little doubt that Simmons was the instigator of the crime. Before its commission Simmons said he wanted to murder someone. In chilling, callous terms he talked about his plan, discussing it for the most part with two friends, Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer, then aged 15 and 16 respectively. Simmons proposed to commit burglary and murder by breaking and entering, tying up a victim, and throwing the victim off a bridge. Simmons assured his friends they could “get away with it” because they were minors. The three met at about
…show more content…
On the same afternoon fishermen recovered the victim’s body from the river. Simmons, meanwhile, was bragging about the killing, telling friends he had killed a woman “because the bitch seen my face.” The next day, after receiving information of Simmons’ involvement, police arrested him at his high school and took him to the police station in Fenton, Missouri. 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.The State charged Simmons with burglary, kidnaping, stealing, and murder in the first degree.
As Simmons was 17 at the time of the crime, he was outside the criminal jurisdiction of Missouri’s juvenile court system. See Mo. Rev. Stat. §§211.021 (2000) and 211.031 (Supp. 2003). He was tried as an adult. At trial the State introduced Simmons’ confession and the videotaped reenactment of the crime, along with testimony that Simmons discussed the crime in advance and bragged about it later. The defense called no witnesses in the guilt phase. The jury having returned a verdict of murder, the trial proceeded to the penalty phase. The State sought the death …show more content…
If the minor is responsible enough to commit the crime, he should be tried the same way a fully grown adult is tried. I feel this way because grown men are committing these crimes, and are facing real, consequences, why should minors who are doing the same thing be given immunity to the death penalty, yes we can throw them in prison for 25 to life, but in all reality, it’s cheaper to do the death penalty, and it gives this country a backbone to stand on. When the missouri supreme court ruled in favor of the death penalty for Mr Simmons, it was not an unlikely thing to do. But at the time, each individual state did not have any based set of rules when it came to the death penalty, most states it was, if you got sentenced death, that was your final sentence, no questions asked. But when the supreme court came out and said, this is our new national rule, no minors shall be charged with death. Im sure it interfered with some states and their beliefs, but the supreme court ruled in favor of Simmons rather than the state of
On the same afternoon fishermen recovered the victim’s body from the river. Simmons, meanwhile, was bragging about the killing, telling friends he had killed a woman “because the bitch seen my face.” The next day, after receiving information of Simmons’ involvement, police arrested him at his high school and took him to the police station in Fenton, Missouri. 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.The State charged Simmons with burglary, kidnaping, stealing, and murder in the first degree.
As Simmons was 17 at the time of the crime, he was outside the criminal jurisdiction of Missouri’s juvenile court system. See Mo. Rev. Stat. §§211.021 (2000) and 211.031 (Supp. 2003). He was tried as an adult. At trial the State introduced Simmons’ confession and the videotaped reenactment of the crime, along with testimony that Simmons discussed the crime in advance and bragged about it later. The defense called no witnesses in the guilt phase. The jury having returned a verdict of murder, the trial proceeded to the penalty phase. The State sought the death …show more content…
If the minor is responsible enough to commit the crime, he should be tried the same way a fully grown adult is tried. I feel this way because grown men are committing these crimes, and are facing real, consequences, why should minors who are doing the same thing be given immunity to the death penalty, yes we can throw them in prison for 25 to life, but in all reality, it’s cheaper to do the death penalty, and it gives this country a backbone to stand on. When the missouri supreme court ruled in favor of the death penalty for Mr Simmons, it was not an unlikely thing to do. But at the time, each individual state did not have any based set of rules when it came to the death penalty, most states it was, if you got sentenced death, that was your final sentence, no questions asked. But when the supreme court came out and said, this is our new national rule, no minors shall be charged with death. Im sure it interfered with some states and their beliefs, but the supreme court ruled in favor of Simmons rather than the state of