Mar. 2 MISSOURI: Murderer cheers death penalty decision 8 months has made a lifetime of difference for Christopher Simmons. Because Simmons was that many months shy of his 18th birthday when he tossed a woman to her death off a railroad trestle, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that he cannot be executed for the murder. The ruling in Simmons' case also spared the life of 72 death row inmates across the nation who were younger than 18 when they committed murder and bars states from seeking to execute minors for future crimes. For Simmons, now 28, it means a long life in prison - for which he is eternally grateful. Learning of the court decision from a television report, Simmons tried unsuccessfully to call his family, then got through to one of his attorneys. "The first thing he said was, 'Thank you very, very much,'" said Kansas City attorney Pat Berrigan, whose client denied an interview request. Simmons had been praying fervently for the nation's high court to uphold a 2003 decision by the Missouri Supreme Court that banned juvenile executions, Berrigan said. "I think he sees some of God's work in this result," he said. In its 5-4 ruling, the high court said the execution of juvenile offenders violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The decision invalidated the practice of 19 states and overturned a 1989 high court precedent in another Missouri case that had allowed executions for offenders as young as 16. It also brought the United States in line with much of the rest of the world, something Justice Anthony Kennedy noted while concluding that juveniles lack the 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 wrote for the court's majority. In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia disputed that a "national consensus" exists against juvenile executions and insisted those decisions should be left to states. The impact was immediate. In Prince William County, Va., officials said Tuesday they will not prosecute a murder case against teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, who already is serving life in prison in 2 of the 10 sniper killings that terrorized the Washington area in 2002. The ruling continues the court's practice of narrowing the scope of the death penalty, which it reinstated in 1976. Executions for those 15 and younger when they committed their crimes were outlawed in 1988. Three years ago, justices banned executions of the mentally retarded, citing a "national consensus" against executing a killer who may lack the intelligence to fully understand his crime. In finding a similar consensus against juvenile executions, the court noted that most states bar them and those that allow them do so infrequently. Only three states - Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia - have executed people who committed crimes as juveniles in the past 10 years. The latest case arose from the September 1993 murder of Shirley Crook, who was bound up during a nighttime burglary by Simmons and 15-year-old Charles Benjamin. She was taken from her home wearing only underwear and cowboy boots and shoved off a train trestle into the Meramec River. Prosecutors contended Simmons planned the killing and bragged he could escape punishment because of his age, something Simmons later denied. Crook's relatives criticized the Supreme Court's conclusion that juveniles aren't as culpable for their actions as adults. "We felt it was a cold-blooded murder," said Tom Mitchell, whose wife, Pertie, is Crook's sister. "I don't know that life in prison is ever considered a pass, but he's not having to pay the same penalty that he caused Pertie's sister to pay." Jefferson County Prosecutor Bob Wilkins, who took office just months after Simmons' trial, said he still believes it is appropriate to allow the death penalty for some teenage murderers. "If any case ever was deserving of the death penalty, this was it," Wilkins said. "It was one of the most heinous offenses that any of us ever are going to see." Since entering prison, Simmons has embraced his Christian faith, joined several ministry and youth programs and helped as a hospice aide caring for inmates with AIDS, Berrigan said. In January, Simmons was transferred to the same prison cell block as Benjamin, who was tried separately and sentenced to life in prison. The two co-defendants have occasionally talked about their fates, Benjamin said in a telephone interview Tuesday from prison. Simmons wanted to live and had been anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court decision. Benjamin said he would have preferred to have been executed, adding that a lifetime in prison should provide a strong deterrent to other teens. "Maybe one of the youngsters out there someday will look back in time and see what happened to me and what happened to Chris and think, 'That's not really how I want to do things,'" Benjamin said. On the Net: The decision is available at: http://wid.ap.org/documents/scotus/050301roper.pdf (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: State briefs: Case challenges execution method The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the state's lethal injection procedure for executing condemned inmates is constitutional, even though it uses a drug banned for euthanasia of animals. A list released yesterday of cases accepted by the court include an appeal filed by condemned killer Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman that challenges the protocol used by the state Department of Correction because it could cause an inmate extreme pain. A state appeals court last year upheld a lower court's ruling that Tennessee's lethal injection procedure for executing condemned inmates is constitutional. The procedure calls for three drugs to be administered in sequence: sodium thiopentathol or Pentothal to cause unconsciousness, Pavulon or pancuronium bromide to create paralysis and stop the breathing, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. Abdur'Rahman, known as James Lee Jones at the time, was on parole for another slaying when he killed Patrick Daniels and critically injured Norma Jean Norman in 1987. (source: Associated Press) NEW HAMPSHIRE: A look at the death penalty, its use in N.H. The state of New Hampshire last executed a killer in 1939, but the states death penalty and its application to minors has been an ongoing point of debate for lawmakers. New Hampshire's death penalty law applies only to certain types of murders, including murder for hire, the killing of law enforcement or judicial officers, or murders committed during the course of a kidnapping or rape. Teens who are 15 and older typically are treated as adults on murder and various other felony charges, but no one younger than 17 can be charged with capital murder under state law. The state Legislature last year voted to raise the minimum age in death penalty cases to 18, but Gov. Craig Benson vetoed the bill. The same bill resurfaced this year, and is pending before the House Criminal Justice Committee. Legislators voted to abolish the death penalty completely in 2000, but Gov. Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the move, and a similar bill failed to pass in 2001. (source: Nashua Telelgraph) SOUTH CAROLINA: 5 S.C. killers will avoid death penalty----U.S. SUPREME COURT: Executing teen murderers is cruel and unusual punishment 5 convicted South Carolina murderers who were 16 or 17 years old at the time of their crimes will be spared the death penalty under a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday. In a 5-4 vote on a Missouri case, the high court said executing teen killers is cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. It reversed its 1989 ruling that had allowed the practice. 3 of the affected S.C. inmates are on death row; the other 2 had their death sentences reversed earlier and are awaiting resentencing. The death row inmates are: - Ted Benjamin "Benji" Powers, convicted of stabbing a Gaston man to death and severely beating the mans wife during a 1990 home burglary - Herman Hughes, convicted of shooting a Calhoun County video poker employee to death and nearly killing the workers girlfriend in 1994 - Eric Dale Morgan, convicted of shooting a Spartanburg County convenience store operator to death during a 2000 robbery. The 2 other inmates awaiting resentencing are William Arthur Kelly, convicted of stabbing a pregnant restaurant worker to death in Batesburg-Leesville in 1996; and Robert Conyers, convicted of beating a 2-year-old girl to death and seriously injuring her mother and brother in their Manning home in 1991. It was not clear Tuesday when the five will be resentenced. Some could be eligible for parole, depending on their prior records and sentencing laws at the time of their crimes, according to the S.C. attorney generals office. "I mean, you just feel defeated," said Diana Presley Alsaeedi, the sister of Ken Presley, who was murdered in the 1994 Calhoun County robbery. "Why don't you open the gates and let them all out?" But defense lawyers John Blume and David Bruck, who represent Hughes and Conyers, respectively, said that wont happen. "A life without parole sentence is incredibly harsh, especially if youre a 16-year-old or 17-year-old," Blume said. Tuesdays ruling also will affect other pending cases, including the Lexington County case of Calen Radwill, who has been waiting for more than 9 years to be tried on charges he kidnapped and stabbed to death a 15-year-old boy in 1995. Radwill was 17 at the time. Radwills lawyer, John Delgado, and Lexington County solicitor Donnie Myers on Tuesday said Radwill will no longer face the death penalty. They declined to comment further, citing a court-imposed gag order. The case has been transferred to Solicitor Trey Gowdy of Spartanburg, Myers and Gowdy confirmed Tuesday. Since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide in 1976, 22 offenders - including one in South Carolina - who were juveniles when they committed their crimes have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a research organization in Washington, D.C. As of Dec. 31, 72 death row inmates in 12 states - including 3 in South Carolina, 4 in North Carolina and 2 in Georgia - are there for crimes committed as juveniles. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1988 banned executions of offenders younger than 16 at the time of their crimes; a year later, it ruled it was permissible for 16- and 17-year-olds. Tuesday, the court said it wouldnt be allowed for any defendants who were under 18 when their crimes were committed. "The differences between juvenile and adult offenders are too marked and well understood to risk allowing a youthful person to receive the death penalty despite insufficient culpability," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. Kennedy, a conservative who was joined by the four liberal justices, said juvenile offenders shouldnt be executed because they typically are less mature than adults, are more "susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures," and have less "well-formed" characters. The majority cited a national consensus against executing juveniles, noting 30 states prohibit it. They also pointed out the United States and Somalia were the only countries to refuse to ratify a United Nations agreement banning executions of juveniles. Justice Antonin Scalia blasted that reasoning in his dissent, saying the "meaning of our Eighth Amendment" shouldn't be "determined by the subjective views of 5 Members of this Court and like-minded foreigners." Reaction by S.C. groups was mixed. "While I firmly believe that adult crimes usually deserve adult punishment, the Supreme Courts decision brings clarity to an issue that has conflicted the hearts of many Americans," S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster said in a statement. "I'm just happy that the Supreme Court recognized that it is cruel to execute children," said Zoe Sanders Nettles, the lawyer-chairperson of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Execution of Children. For 4 years, her group has asked the state to halt executions for teenagers under 17, she said. Laura Hudson, public policy liaison for S.C. Victim Assistance Network, said Tuesday's decision represented another step to eliminate the death penalty. The court in 2002 banned executions of mentally retarded inmates. "I think that it sends a message that we don't care about crime victims and crime victims' rights." (source: The State) ************************ Calhoun killer's death sentence will change The U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of killers who were younger than 18 when they committed their crimes - a decision that has met with mixed reviews in the South Carolina Midlands. Per Tuesday's 5-4 decision, the sentence of 3 men on South Carolina's death row will likely be commuted to life in prison. "It's just another slap in the face for states' rights," former First Circuit Solicitor Walter Bailey said. "19 states have the death penalty for juveniles. You have 12 jurors agonizing over the decision, and the court has done away with (their efforts)." The justices ruled that executing juveniles violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. About 70 juvenile defendants in the other 18 states with the death penalty for juveniles also are affected. "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," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. According to South Carolina defense attorney John Blume, who frequently represents clients on death row, Ted "Benji" Powers, Eric Morgan and former St. Matthews resident Herman Hughes should all have their sentence reduced to life in prison. Along with the 3 men on death row, the ruling will affect at least two other 16- and 17-year-old defendants awaiting retrial for crimes that could have brought the death penalty, Blume said. Blume said the ruling wasn't too much of a surprise considering the same court banned the execution of mentally retarded offenders 3 years ago. "What it really does is bring the U.S. in line with the rest of the world," Blume said. "It's not a revolutionary ruling." But Bailey countered with the fact that the U.S. Constitution "is the same as it was 10 years ago." "What's good for France doesn't mean it's good for the United States," Bailey said. "It's just part of a trend when you're lightening up on (convicted criminals)." However, Pandora's box may have been opened, Bailey said. With a growing concern over deadly gang activity in this state, Tuesday's ruling may have removed the only deterrent to gang-related murders, Bailey said. "It gives them (juvenile gang members) a green light to kill," Bailey said. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said while he doesn't agree with the ruling, it is now law. "While I firmly believe that adult crimes usually deserve adult punishment, the Supreme Court's decision brings clarity to an issue that has conflicted the hearts of many Americans," McMaster said in a statement. Nationally, the ruling will become a factor in the October, 2002 killing spree of snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. Malvo was 17 years old at the time of the shootings that left 10 dead and three wounded in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. Two trials in Virginia have resulted in Malvo's receiving a life sentence. But the youth was facing seven more cases in Maryland. Meanwhile, Muhammad was sentenced to death in Prince William County, Va., for his part in the shooting spree. In The T&D Region, the decision will affect the Herman Hughes case. The convicted murderer will likely be moved from South Carolina's death row to a facility for those sentenced to life in prison. Hughes was 16 when he gunned down 20-year-old Kenneth Presley during a robbery attempt on March 18, 1994, at the Blue Diamond, a video poker establishment in Calhoun County. Presley, an employee, was killed during the incident after being shot in the head while his 17-year-old girlfriend was shot in the face. She survived the shooting. About $450 was stolen during the deadly robbery as well as Presley's car, which was later recovered near an Orangeburg nightclub. Officials were also able to recover the weapon used in the shooting. Chief Family Court Judge Maxey Watson later ruled that Hughes could be tried as an adult. And on Sept. 12, 1995, as an emotionless Herman Hughes was sentenced to die, jurors and family members alike wept as his sentence was announced. (source: The Times and Democrat)
