Links to other webpages about Christopher Simmons
Missouri's Death
Row
| Missouri's Supreme Court announced
a postponement of the May 1 and June 5, 2002 execution dates... Letters/calls/faxes/emails to Governor Holden are still needed... |
| Please sign the online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/simmons/petition.html |
Missouri Execution Alert – Chris Simmons again
As you know, the May 1 date for Chris Simmons was postponed until June 5, vigils June 4.
A press conference is
planned for Thursday, May 30, in Jefferson City, 10:00 am, in a Senate Hearing
Room on the first floor the Capitol. Please attend if you can.
Speakers:
1. Jennifer Brewer, Simmons'
attorney
2. Professor John
Galliher, University of Missouri, will present a report,
"The Prevailing Injustice
in Missouri Executions (1978-1996)". (The report
will be available at http://www.mindspring.com/~emcadp.)
The European Coalition
To Abolish the Death Penalty (www.ecadp.org) has set
up an online petition for
Christopher Simmons. Please sign the online
petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/simmons/petition.html
The American Bar Association
has devoted a portion of their juvenile issues
website to Simmons including
a clemency application written by his
attorneys for his May 1
date. See http:www.mindspring.com/~emcadp
for links.
On May 9, Maryland's Governor
Parris Glendening declared a moratorium on
executions until release
of a report studying whether there is racial bias
in application of the death
penalty in Maryland. First Illinois a couple
of years ago, now Maryland.
Can Governor Holden summon the courage to be
the third?
The basic facts again:
As a 17-year-old high
school student with no previous criminal record,
Simmons was arrested for
the murder of Shirley Crook, who recognized him in
the course of his attempted
burglary at her home in Jefferson County. He
and a 16-year-old friend
had been under the influence of convicted felon
Brian Moomey, who regularly
had teens commit crimes and bring the proceeds
back to him.
Mitigating factors:
1. Age: at 17 at
the time of the crime, Simmons was a juvenile under
international treaties,
which forbid execution of anyone who was under 18
at the time of the crime.
The United States' refusal to ratify the
Convention on the Rights
of the Child (and other treaties) causes growing
dismay in many other parts
of the world.
2. Abuse.
Simmons' parents separated when he was a baby and remained
hostile to each other.
His stepfather, an alcoholic, beat and intimidated
him and forced him to do
heavy chores his own, biological, children were
not required to do.
Chris' mother, afraid of her husband, made no attempt
to help Chris, leading him
to believe she did not love him.
3. Mental illness.
He was abusing drugs and alcohol at the time of the
crime and was found to be
suffering from schizotypal disorder, a condition
symptoms of which include
pervasive deficits affecting his ability to
interact with others.
4. Inadequate counsel.
At the penalty phase, his trial counsel failed to
present this evidence to
the jury.
5. Exemplary life
in prison. He has matured into a kind and helpful
person, according to many
who have gotten to know him, with religious
faith. He has become
involved with several programs which give him a
chance to counsel youths
against use of drugs and crime and hopes to be
able to live in order to
help other youths avoid the path he took.
WHAT YOU CAN DO on or
before Tuesday, June 4, in addition to attending the
news conference: Any part
helps:
1. Ask Gov. Bob Holden
to commute the sentence to a set sentence or life
with possibility of parole:
573-751-3222, fax 573-751-1495; State Capitol,
Box 720, Jefferson City,
MO 65101. Toll-free: Kansas City: 889-3186; St.
Louis: 340-6900. Email through
online website at
http://www.gov.state.mo.us/mail1.htm
(remember that handwritten letters are
most effective, but email
helps if you doubt you'll have time to write or
call).
2. Candlelight vigil Tues.
6/4 outside the Potosi prison, 11:00pm-12:01am,
near front gate, Potosi
Correctional Facility, Hwy O, just off Hwy 8, south
off Hwy 21, or I-55 to Hwy
67 south to Hwy 8 west.
CANCELLED IF COMMUTATION OR STAY.
Also June 4:
Columbia: 5:00-6:00 pm,
Tuesday, Boone Co. Courthouse;
Columbia: 6:30 pm, St. Lukes
United Methodist Church, 204 E. Ash;
Jefferson City: vigil, 11:00
pm until 12:01 am: High St. across from
Supreme Court;
Jefferson City: prayer service,
10:30 pm, St. Peter’s Catholic Church;
Kansas City: vigil, 4:45-5:45
pm, J.C. Nichols Fountain in the Plaza
(sponsored by Western Missouri
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty);
Kirksville: vigil, 11:00
p.m., in front of Pickler Library, Truman State
College campus;
St. Louis: 7:30-8:00 p.m.,
Catholic prayer service, St. John’s Catholic
Church, 15 Council Plaza,
near Pine and 17th Sts. in downtown St. Louis
(sponsored by MASK);
St. Louis: 8:30-9:00 pm,
candlelight vigil, Municipal Courts Bldg., 1320
Market (sponsored by Eastern
Missouri Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty);
Springfield: 7:00-7:30 pm,
St. Agnes Cathedral, 533 S. Jefferson;
Cape Girardeau: 8:00, Academic
Hall on campus of SEMO.
3. Write letters to editors of major Missouri newspapers:
St. Louis Post_Dispatch
900 E. Tucker Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63101
(314) 340-8000 (phone)
(314) 340-3050 (fax)
letters@post-dispatch.com
Kansas City Star
1729 Grand Av.
Kansas City, MO 64108
(816) 234-4141 (phone)
(816) 234-4926 (fax)
letters@kcstar.com
News Tribune
P.O. Box 420
Jefferson City, MO 65102
(573) 636-3131 (phone)
(573) 636-7035 (fax)
editor@newstribune.com
As a 17-year-old high school
student with no previous criminal record,
Simmons was arrested for the
murder of Shirley Crook, who recognized him in
the course of his attempted
burglary at her home in Jefferson County. He
and a 16-year-old friend had
been under the influence of convicted felon
Brian Moomey, who regularly
had teens commit crimes and bring the proceeds
back to him.
Mitigating factors:
1. Age: at 17 at the
time of the crime, Simmons was a juvenile under
international treaties, which
forbid execution of anyone who was under 18
at the time of the crime.
The United States' refusal to ratify the
Convention on the Rights of
the Child (and other treaties) causes dismay in
many other parts of the world.
2. Abuse. Simmons'
parents separated when he was a baby and remained
hostile to each other.
His stepfather, an alcoholic, beat and intimidated
him and forced him to do heavy
chores his own, biological, children were
not required to do. Chris'
mother, afraid of her husband, made no attempt
to help Chris, leading him
to believe she did not love him.
3. Mental illness.
He was abusing drugs and alcohol at the time of the
crime and was found to be suffering
from schizotypal disorder, a condition
symptoms of which include pervasive
deficits affecting his ability to
interact with others.
4. Inadequate counsel.
At the penalty phase, his trial counsel failed to
present this evidence to the
jury.
5. Exemplary life in
prison. He has matured into a kind and helpful
person, according to many who
have gotten to know him, with religious
faith. He has become
involved with several programs which give him a
chance to counsel youths against
use of drugs and crime and hopes to be
able to live in order to help
other youths avoid the path he took.
WHAT YOU CAN DO on or before Tuesday, April 30: Any part helps:
1. Ask Gov. Bob Holden to
commute the sentence to a set sentence or life
with possibility of parole:
573-751-3222, fax 573-751-1495; State Capitol,
Box 720, Jefferson City, MO
65101. Toll-free: Kansas City: 889-3186; St.
Louis: 340-6900. Email through
online website at
http://www.gov.state.mo.us/mail1.htm
(remember that handwritten letters are
most effective, but email helps
if you doubt you'll have time to write or
call).
2. Candlelight vigil Tues.
4/30 outside the Potosi prison, 11:00pm-12:01am,
near front gate, Potosi Correctional
Facility, Hwy O, just off Hwy 8, south
off Hwy 21, or I-55 to Hwy
67 south to Hwy 8 west. CANCELLED IF COMMUTATION
OR STAY.
Also 4/30:
Columbia: 5:00-6:00 pm, Tuesday,
Boone Co. Courthouse;
Columbia: 6:30 pm, St. Lukes
United Methodist Church, 204 E. Ash;
Jefferson City: vigil, 11:00
pm until 12:01 am: High St. across from
Supreme Court;
Jefferson City: prayer service,
10:30 pm, St. Peter’s Catholic Church;
Kansas City: vigil, 4:45-5:45
pm, J.C. Nichols Fountain in the Plaza
(sponsored by Western Missouri
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty);
Kirksville: vigil, 11:00 p.m.,
in front of Pickler Library, Truman State
College campus;
St. Louis: 7:30-8:00 p.m.,
Catholic prayer service, St. John’s Catholic
Church, 15 Council Plaza, near
Pine and 17th Sts. in downtown St. Louis
(sponsored by MASK);
St. Louis: 8:30-9:00 pm, candlelight
vigil, Municipal Courts Bldg., 1320
Market (sponsored by Eastern
Missouri Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty);
Springfield: 7:00-7:30 pm,
St. Agnes Cathedral, 533 S. Jefferson;
Cape Girardeau: 8:00, Academic
Hall on campus of SEMO.
3. Write letters to editors of major Missouri newspapers:
St. Louis Post_Dispatch
900 E. Tucker Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63101
(314) 340-8000 (phone)
(314) 340-3050 (fax)
letters@post-dispatch.com
Kansas City Star
1729 Grand Av.
Kansas City, MO 64108
(816) 234-4141 (phone)
(816) 234-4926 (fax)
letters@kcstar.com
News Tribune
P.O. Box 420
Jefferson City, MO 65102
(573) 636-3131 (phone)
(573) 636-7035 (fax)
editor@newstribune.com
Information provided by:
Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty
P.O. Box 54 Jefferson City,
MO 65102 Phone: 573-635-7239
AMNESTY ALERT :
12 April 2002 EXTRA 27/02 -
Death penalty / Legal concern - USA (Missouri) Christopher Simmons
Christopher Simmons (m),
white, aged 25, is scheduled to be
executed in Missouri on 1 May
2002, five days after his 26th birthday.
He was sentenced to death in
1994 for a murder committed when he
was 17 years old. International
law prohibits the execution of people
who were under 18 at the time
of the crime.
Shirley Crook's body was
found on 9 September 1993 in the
Meramec River, near St Louis
in eastern Missouri. The 46-year-old
woman had been tied with electric
cable, leather straps and tape. The
medical examiner determined
the cause of death to be drowning, and
found that she had sustained
several fractured ribs and substantial
bruising.
Christopher Simmons was arrested
at school the next day. Despite
his age, below-average IQ (88),
and the fact that he might face
capital charges, he was interrogated,
at times aggressively, for two
hours by three police officers
without a lawyer or parent present. At
some point, a senior officer
joined the interrogation. He told
Christopher Simmons that he
was facing the death penalty or life in
prison and that it would be
in his 'best interest' to tell the truth. After
this officer left, the three
others repeated this. Christopher Simmons
eventually confessed to the
murder. The state chose to seek his
execution.
A jury convicted Christopher
Simmons of first-degree murder on 16
June 1994. The entire sentencing
phase took place the next day. The
defence lawyers did not present
evidence of the physical and
emotional abuse to which their
teenage client had been subjected by
his alcoholic stepfather, who
had also introduced his stepson to
alcohol as a toddler. From
a young age Christopher Simmons took to
abusing alcohol and drugs.
The jury were left unaware of this, or his
mental health problems.
Arguing for execution, the
prosecutor urged the jury not to consider
the defendant's age as a mitigating
factor: 'Let's look at the mitigating
circumstances... Think about
age. Seventeen years old. Isn't that
scary? Doesn't that scare
you? Mitigating? Quite the contrary I
submit. Quite the contrary.'
The federal Eighth Circuit Court of
Appeals described these comments
as 'improper' and 'condemn[ed]
the prosecution for teetering
on the edge of misstating the law'. In a
1982 decision, the US Supreme
Court had ruled that 'the
chronological age of a minor
is itself a relevant mitigating factor of
great weight' in capital cases.
It said that 'the background and mental
and emotional development of
a youthful defendant [must also] be
duly considered in sentencing'.
The prosecutor also urged
the jury to vote for execution for the sake
of Christopher Simmons' family:
'Show some mercy to his family, give
him death... Look at his little
brother [who had testified on his
brother's behalf]. [He] said
it all. Someday I want to grow up to be
just like [Christopher].
To be just like him. Spare those kids of that.'
The Eighth Circuit also found
these comments to be 'improper' and to
have 'no place in an American
courtroom', and 'admonish[ed] the
prosecutor to consider the
implications of placing the burden of an
execution on the shoulders
of a child, even if that burden exists only
in the child's mind or in prosecutorial
rhetoric'. The court still upheld
the death sentence.
Under the United Nations
Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors,
adopted in 1990, prosecutors
must 'at all times maintain the honour
and dignity of their profession'
and 'perform their duties fairly,
consistently and expeditiously,
and respect and protect human dignity
and uphold human rights'.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Guidelines on the Role
of Prosecutors also state that prosecutors
must be made aware of 'human
rights and fundamental freedoms
recognized by national and
international law'. In this case, the
prosecution violated international
law in seeking the death penalty
against Christopher Simmons.
The execution of people for
crimes committed when they were under
18 violates the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and the Convention on the Rights
of the Child. The prohibition on the
imposition of the death penalty
against child offenders is so widely
respected that it has become
a principle of customary international
law, binding on all countries,
regardless of which treaties they have or
have not ratified.
The last execution of a child
offender in Missouri was that of
Frederick Lashley, killed on
28 July 1993 for a crime committed when
he was 17. Since Christopher
Simmons was arrested the following
month, there have been 17 executions
of child offenders documented
worldwide, 10 of them in the
USA. The others were in Democratic
Republic of Congo (1), Iran
(3), Nigeria (1), and Pakistan (2). Last
year, Pakistan's President
announced that he would commute the
death sentences of all young
offenders on death row there.
There have been 769 executions
in the USA since judicial killing
resumed there in 1977.
Missouri accounts for 57 of these executions.
There have been 20 executions
nationwide this year, four of them in
Missouri.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to arrive
as quickly as possible:
- expressing sympathy for the
family and friends of Shirley Cook,
explaining that you are not
seeking in any way to excuse her murder;
- expressing concern that Missouri
intends to kill Christopher
Simmons, in violation of international
law, respected in almost every
country, which prohibits the
execution of people who were under 18 at
the time of the crime, in recognition
of the immaturity of young people
and their potential for rehabilitation;
- noting that the power of
executive clemency exists to compensate
for errors and inequities in
the legal system, and that the Governor
can now consider the mitigating
evidence that the jury never heard,
as well as taking full account
of the improper arguments of the
prosecution;
- urging the governor to commute
this death sentence in the interest
of justice, decency, international
law, and the reputation of his state.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Bob Holden
Missouri Capitol Building,
Room 218
PO Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0720
Fax: 1 573 751 1495
Salutation: Dear Governor
You may also write a brief
letter (not more than 250 words) to:
Letters to the Editor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
900 N. Tucker Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63101
Fax: 1 314 340 3139
E-mail: letters@post-dispatch.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Amnesty International is
a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human
rights.
Please do not repost this
appeal to any part of the Internet
without prior permission from
Amnesty International. Thank you for
your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax:
303 258 7881
Information provided by Amnesty International
SEND YOUR APPEALS TO GOVERNOR
HOLDEN
Below are copies of letters sent to Governor
Holden to Stop the Execution
Feel free to copy the text
to send your letter to protest the exceution of Christopher Simmons
The Honourable Bob Holden
Governor of Missouri
Missouri Capitol Building,
Room 218
P.O. Box 720
J e f f e r s o n C i
t y ,
Missouri 65102-0720
U S A
Fax: 001 573 751 1495
April 2002
Dear Governor,
with much concern I have
learned about the case of
Christopher Simmons, aged 25,
who is scheduled to be
executed in Missouri on 1 May
2002. He was sentenced
to death in 1994 for a murder
committed when he was 17
years old.
The execution of people for
crimes committed when they
were under 18, violates the
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child. The prohibition
on the imposition
of the death penalty against
child offenders is so
widely respected that it has
become a principle of
customary international law,
binding on all countries,
regardless of which treaties
they have or have not
ratified. Certainly this international
law-breaking is
causing serious damage on the
USA's image abroad.
I want to express my deep
sympathy for the family and
friends of the victim, and
I am not seeking to excuse
the manner of the crime, but
I oppose the use of the
death penalty under all circumstances
as
state-sanctioned vengeance
and a violation of human
rights. It is a barbaric and
archaic punishment of no
redeeming value. Researches
in several countries show
that the death penalty may
not necessarily act as
deterrent to serious crime.
The deterrence argument is
based on speculation and not
on any evidence.
For all these reasons, I
respectfully call on you to
promote a culture of life and
non-violence, show
compassion and spare Christopher
Simmons' life by
comuting the death sentence.
Thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely and respectfully
Governor Bob Holden,
Missouri Capitol Building,
Rm 218
PO Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Dear Governor Holden,
I'm writing on behalf of
Christopher Simmons who is scheduled for execution
on May 1.
I have tremendous sympathy
for the family of Shirley Crook, Chris's victim.
Their grief and loss are unimaginable.
There is likewise no justification
for the crime committed against
Shirley.
Executing Chris Simmons,
however, will only continue the cycle of
meaningless violence. A sentence
of life in prison without the possibility
of parole would be a far greater
chance for Chris to continue paying his
debt for years on end to Shirley,
her family and society. It would also
signify Missouri's humane treatment
of its young people.
Surely you are aware that
execution of juveniles (Chris was 17 at the time
of his crime) is a violation
of international law. In addition, though Chris
asked to have an adult present
on his behalf at the time the three policemen
interrogated him after his
crime, he did not have one present. For anyone,
especially juveniles, this
is a sorry mark on our justice system!
Furthermore, Chris' trial lawyers
did not present this evidence on his
behalf at trial nor did they
provide any evidence of his abusive family
situation and mental impairment
from alcohol and drug use, all mitigating
circumstances.
As a father of young children
and as one responsible for the protection of
our state's youth, I urge you
to commute Chris Simmons' sentence to life in
prison. This, in place of execution,
will surely be a mark of your humane
but just treatment of Missouri's
youth.
Sincerely,
Links to other webpages about Christopher Simmons
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