Roper v. Simmons

The Facts

The defendant, Christopher Simmons, a high school student in Missouri, was 17 years old when he and two friends, Charles Benjamin (age 15) and John Tessmer (age 16) talked about committing a burglary and a murder. Simmons told his friends that he wanted to kill someone and assured them that they could “get away with it” because they were considered minors. As part of their plan, they met at 2:00 a.m. on the morning of September 9, 1993. Tessmer left the meeting before Simmons and Benjamin set out for the home of Shirley Crook. Simmons was able to unlock the back door through an open window. Benjamin and Simmons walked through the house and up to Crook's bedroom. As they had planned, they used duct tape to cover her eyes and mouth and bind her hands. They drove Crook's minivan to a state park, where they bound the victim even further with duct tape and electrical wire. They took her from the vehicle to a railroad trestle over the Meramec River and threw her over the side into the river, where she drowned.

Later that day, Steven Crook returned home, found his bedroom in disarray, and called police to report that his wife was missing. In the afternoon, Shirley Crook's body was recovered from the river by fishermen. By the time of the recovery, Simmons had already been bragging about having killed Crook, telling his friends that he killed her because she had seen his face.

By the next day, police had received information about Simmons's activity; they went to his high school and placed him under arrest. Simmons waived his rights and proceeded to answer questions from the police. Within 2 hours, Simmons had confessed to killing Crook. The police took him to the crime scene, where Simmons performed a reenactment of the crime that was videotaped by the police. Simmons was charged as an adult with burglary, kidnapping, stealing and murder in the first degree. Tessmer was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, but the charges were dropped in return for his testimony. The state introduced the statements that Simmons had made both before and after the crime, his confession, and the video recording of the reenactment of the crime. Simmons's attorneys did not call any witnesses during the guilt phase of the trial. However, they did present information indicating that Simmons did not have any prior charges against him and had a clean record. Family and friends talked about his character, their relationships with him, his age, and, among other things, his capacity to love; they pleaded for mercy. But the jury also heard from Shirley Crook's family and the devastation that her horrible death had caused. Accepting the jury's recommendation, the trial judge imposed the death penalty.

...