Roper v. Simmons

543 U.S. 551 (2005)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D was 17 and still a junior in high school. D said to his friends that he wanted to murder someone. D talked about his plan, discussing it for the most part with two friends, Charles Benjamin and John Tessmer, aged 15 and 16 respectively. D proposed to commit burglary and murder by breaking and entering, tying up a victim, and throwing the victim off a bridge. D assured his friends they could 'get away with it' because they were minors. They met at about 2 a.m. on the night of the murder, but Tessmer left before the other two set out. D and Benjamin entered the home of the victim, Shirley Crook. When she was confronted by the burglars in her bedroom D recognized her from a previous car accident involving them both. This confirmed D's resolve to murder her. They used duct tape to cover her eyes and mouth and bind her hands, and put her in her minivan and drove to a state park. There they tied her hands and feet together with electrical wire, wrapped her whole face in duct tape and threw her from the bridge, drowning her in the waters below. Fishermen recovered the victim's body from the river. D was arrested and waived his right to an attorney and agreed to answer questions. D confessed to the murder and agreed to perform a videotaped reenactment at the crime scene. D was charged with burglary, kidnapping, stealing, and murder in the first degree. D was 17 at the time of the crime. D was tried as an adult. 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 penalty. D's attorneys called family and friends to plead for his life. In closing arguments, D's age was addressed, and the trial judge instructed the jurors they could consider age as a mitigating factor. Defense counsel reminded the jurors that juveniles of Simmons' age could not drink, serve on juries, or even see certain movies, because 'the legislatures have wisely decided that individuals of a certain age aren't responsible enough.' D argued that age should make 'a huge difference to [the jurors] in deciding just exactly what sort of punishment to make.' The jury recommended the death penalty. The trial judge imposed the death penalty. Eventually, D filed for post-conviction relief, arguing that the reasoning of Atkins established that the Constitution prohibits the execution of a juvenile who was under 18 when the crime was committed. The Missouri Supreme Court agreed: A national consensus has developed against the execution of juvenile offenders, as demonstrated by the fact that eighteen states now bar such executions for juveniles, that twelve other states bar executions altogether, that no state has lowered its age of execution below 18 since Stanford, that five states have legislatively or by case law raised or established the minimum age at 18, and that the imposition of the juvenile death penalty has become truly unusual over the last decade. D was resentenced to 'life imprisonment without eligibility for probation, parole, or release except by act of the Governor.' The Supreme Court granted certiorari.