Roper V. Simmons Case Study

After that he held Vickie Jackson hostage and told he that he had got everyone that had hurt him. The cops finally showed up and he turned in his gun and turned himself in. When he got sent to his trial he told them his name was James Johnston but later the figured out his name was Ronald Gene Simmons. Sheriff Bolin was investigating the house but couldn’t find a way in, so right before Bolin left he noticed a body looking figure laying on

The constitution including its amendments is considered the “supreme law of the land”. The constitution has been enhanced by being steadily challenged to further interpret the meaning. These test come through many different legal cases that are brought to the Supreme Court; for example. The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law…prohibiting…or abridging the freedom of speech…” Though there are restrictions on a person’s first amendment rights, in the Hazlewood v. Kuhlmeier case this amendment was challenge when students of the school newspaper believed their rights were taken away by the principal because two pages of articles were deleted from the paper.

Caption: Brumfield v. Cain, 576 U. S. ____ (2015). In this case, Brumfield, the petitioner, wants the United States Supreme Court to review a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Facts: Kevan Brumfield was convicted of murder of Betty Smothers, and was sentenced to death by a Louisiana court. This court decision was made before ruling that the 8th Amendment prohibits execution of the intellectually disabled under Atkins v. Virginia. Using the Atkins Mandate, in State v. Williams (2001), the Louisiana Supreme Court decided a hearing must take place to decide if Williams was actually intellectually disabled.

Roper V Simmions, Falls under the 8th amendment cruel and unusual punishment. In Roper V Simmions there was a 17 year old boy with a mental disabitliy who commited a premediated murder was orginally being tried for the death penalty. In this case however there was another individual who did assist in the murder. He wasnt declared “mentally fit” for the trial but some felt his crimes were heneous enough to warrent the death penalty.

Kaylee Woolery Mr. O’Rourke Political Issues Tuesday, April 18th Supreme Court Opinion In 1989 the case of Roper vs. Simmons, the US Supreme Court opposed the death sentence and decided against the death penalty for anyone younger than 18. They argued that his 8th amendment rights were being infringed resulting in cruel and unusual punishment for the execution of a minor. Christopher Simmons, a 17-year-old, was arrested and put on trial for the first-degree murder of Shirley Crook. Due to the fact that it was first-degree murder, he was sentenced to death.

Out of all the people he helped through the years some were innocent, some were mentally ill, and some were juveniles. While the Supreme Court eventually ruled that the death penalty or life sentences should not apply to these groups, such as in Roper vs. Simmons, Kennedy vs Louisiana, and Miller vs Alabama, Bryan still tried to deal with the issue before these rulings, and helped with the influx of new cases as a result of these rulings. Even though the process was slow lower courts and judges eventually started to follow suit with the Supreme Court’s rulings,

Ronald Gene Simmons was what is call a “spree killer”. He murdered 16 people 14 of which were his family members. These murders began on December 22 and went on until December 28, 1987. After simmons was finished killing his family he proceeded with his rampage in Russellville Arkansas killing 2 and leaving 4 injured. It was decided by the court that a short time before the Christmas of 1987 Simmons had began to plan killing his family.

So the court then deemed that capital punishment can’t be given to anyone under the age of 16 no matter what the crime is. Basically the Eighth Amendment was interpreted to have that no one under the age of 16 shall have the death sentence in the United States since it a cruel punishment to give to a minor. In addition, the next evidence brings up Penry v. Lynaugh. Johnny Paul Penry was a mentally disabled person who had the mental age of 7.

In Roper v. Simmons there are two issues that must be addressed, the first being the issue of moral maturity and culpability. The defense in the trial phase of this case argued that Mr. Simmons was an at an age where he was not responsible enough to fully understand the effects and consequences of his actions. The majority draws on Atkins v. Virginia to argue that this specific precedent supports their case that the death penalty should not be imposed on the mentally immature or impaired. However, an important point to be made is that the Atkins v. Virginia decision is geared towards the clinical definition of mental retardation: significant limitations that limit adaptive skills. Also, another important question to consider is the competency and premeditation of Mr. Simmons’ crime in this case.

Georgia, it was decided that the death penalty could only be inflicted on certain crimes that resulted in death of an individual, making Gregg’s death sentence constitutional. Furman v. Georgia argued that the death penalty as it was currently being given out violated the eighth amendment (“Furman v. Georgia (1972)”). Congress then changed the death penalty restrictions, limiting it to crimes “of air piracy that resulted in death” (Vile). This means that not every crime that was previously issued the death penalty was given it anymore, making the death penalty have a higher meaning. Gregg not only robbed Simmons and Moore but he killed them to.

Id. Even in cases in which the criminal is under the age of 18, he clearly expressed his opposition against death penalty being unconstitutional.

An indication that disproves the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision centers on the idea that one’s age should not be used as an excuse to minimize their punishment. In her essay “On Punishment and Teen Killers”, Jennifer Jenkins supports this by arguing that a juvenile should not use their age as an excuse to get out of trouble with the law. After mentioning the horrific case of a teenager who killed a pregnant woman for satisfaction, it is revealed that the murderer was charged with three life sentences. Despite the murderer’s wicked actions, some people still believed that the murderer did not deserve life sentences just because the killer was not considered a legal adult. To support her argument that age isn’t enough of an excuse, Jenkins writes “There are advocates who wish to minimize

For instance, the article claimed, “The first argument is that no fourteen-year-old may be sentenced to LWOP, given a fourteen-year-old’s biologically diminished capacity.” In particular, this means that minors cannot be sentenced to a life in prison. Another example is when the article proclaimed,” The second argument against the sentences in these cases is that even if the Supreme Court concludes that LWOP is sometimes a permissible sentence for a fourteen-year-old homicide offender, the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments demands that the sentencing judge at least have the opportunity to take the age of the offender into account in

I always thought juveniles who committed crimes would be tried for their age, but consequently, within the past few years more young teens have been tried as adults, and forced into life-long sentences and even in some cases, death row. In one case Stevenson worked with a young girl named Trina Garnett had been in a house fire and was blamed for ‘intentionally’ starting the fire. Within the trial, the Judge who was ruling the case declared Trina had no intent to kill. One thing Stevenson mentioned was that “Under Pennsylvania Law, the judge could not take the absence of intent into account during sentencing” (page 150). Trina was convicted of second-degree murder at age sixteen.

Donald Smith was convicted in 2008 of murdering a preschool teacher and carjacking. Witnesses described a man matching his description, security camera footage matched his description, and even DNA evidence was found apparently matching Donald to the crime. However, Donald claimed it was his twin brother the entire time. Fingerprints found at the crime scene actually matched Ronald, not Donald. When: July 18, 2008 Where: Gwinnett, Georgia (near Atlanta).