High court puts end to juvenile executions

When a Cape Girardeau County jury recommended the death sentence for Christopher Simmons in 1994, it is doubtful jurors contemplated the possibility that their verdict would lead to a nationwide abolition of capital punishment for underage offenders.

On Tuesday, a closely divided U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juvenile criminals, declaring there was a national consensus such executions were unconstitutionally cruel and ending a practice that had brought international condemnation.

The 5-4 decision, which overturns a 1989 high court ruling, throws out the death sentences of 72 murderers who committed their crimes as juveniles and bars states from seeking to execute others. Nineteen states had allowed death sentences for killers who committed their crimes when they were under 18.

Justices were called on to draw an age line for executions after Missouri's highest court overturned the death sentence given to Christopher Simmons, who was 17 when he kidnapped a neighbor, hog-tied her and threw her off a bridge in 1993. Prosecutors say he planned the burglary and killing of Shirley Crook and bragged that he could get away with it because of his age.

A Cape Girardeau County jury brought in to hear the case in Jefferson County found Simmons guilty of the murder and recommended the death sentence.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, said many juveniles lack maturity and intellectual development to understand the ramifications of their actions.

"The age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many purposes between childhood and adulthood. It is, we conclude, the age at which the line for death eligibility ought to rest," Kennedy said.

The United States has stood almost alone in the world in officially sanctioning juvenile executions, a "stark reality" that can't be ignored, Kennedy wrote. Juvenile offenders have been put to death in recent years in only a few other countries, including Iran, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia.

"It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty, resting in large part on the understanding that the instability and emotional imbalance of young people may often be a factor in the crime," Kennedy wrote.

In an angry dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia disputed that a "national consensus" exists and said the majority opinion was based on the "flimsiest of grounds." The appropriateness of capital punishment should be determined by individual states, not "the subjective views of five members of this court and like-minded foreigners," he wrote.

The Rev. J. Friedel of the Catholic Campus Ministry at Southeast Missouri State University heralded the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the death penalty is unconstitutional when applied to offenders under age 18 as a small step toward what he hopes will eventually be a total end to capital punishment.

"I am happy they are limiting the scope of the death penalty," Friedel said. "I personally wish we had a moratorium to look at some of the inequities and problems inherent with the system."

Friedel says he has great respect for murder victims and their families and doesn't downplay their suffering. However, he views capital punishment as an extension of that suffering.

Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Sokoloff said the court may have gone too far in limiting the ability of juries to recommend the death sentence in situations where the facts of the case may warrant it.

"Obviously, there are circumstances and situations where the death penalty for someone under 18 isn't appropriate," Sokoloff said. "To say as a blanket rule that no one under 18 can meet the requirements of the death penalty is unfortunate. As a prosecutor, I'm not happy about that."

In 2003, the Missouri Supreme Court voted 4-3 to overturn Simmons' sentence for the 1993 murder. The Missouri court found that capital punishment for youthful offenders violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

The dissenters, including Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. of Cape Girardeau, said the majority improperly overruled the U.S. Supreme Court's 1989 decision upholding the constitutionality of the capital punishment for 16 and 17 year olds.

Attorney General Jay Nixon appealed to the nation's highest court in the hope it would reaffirm its earlier position. Now that the judicial process has run its course, Nixon said he respects the court's decision. Since there are no similar Missouri cases pending, Nixon said the ruling only applies to Simmons in this state.

"There has never been any question about his guilt in the murder of Shirley Crook, and this decision confirms that he will spend the rest of his life in prison," Nixon said.

However, the decision will prevent Missouri prosecutors -- as well as those in other states -- from pursuing future capital cases against young murderers.

State Rep. Scott Lipke, a former prosecutor, said he was surprised by Tuesday's ruling because of the Missouri court's deviation from established precedent.

"They way our system works, when the U.S. Supreme Court says something, it stands until they say something different," said Lipke, R-Jackson.

Retired Missouri Supreme Court Judge Charles Blackmar, an outspoken opponent of capital punishment, said that while state court may have relied on a novel interpretation to reach its conclusion, it turned out to be the right.

"It is interesting the Missouri judges saw fit to overturn precedent, but they seem to have gauged it right," Blackmar said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report