State Supreme Court judges now ponder whether a death row inmate who was 17 when he killed a woman in St. Louis County should be put to death. The attorney for Christopher Simmons, Jennifer Brewer, tells the judges the state should not be allowed to execute someone who commits murder before the age of 18. She bases her argument on new research on brain development. But State Assistant Attorney General Stephen Hawke says the consideration of such research belongs in the hands of the legislature, not the courts. The State Supreme Court stopped the execution of Simmons in May of last year to consider arguments on how young is too young to face execution. Simmons killed Shirley Crook of Fenton in 1993.
