It’s the first Monday in October, the beginning of a new term for the United States Supreme Court. On its agenda this term: a case from Missouri that likely will have national significance. The Court will hear arguments on the 13th in the case of Christopher Simmons, 17 at the time he murdered Shirley Crook of Fenton. Simmons broke into Crook’s home, bound her with duct tape and tossed her into the Meramec River, where she drowned. The State Supreme Court has ruled the death sentence Simmons received violated the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. In its ruling, the State Supreme Court stated times have changed since the US Supreme Court upheld such executives in a 1989 ruling. The state court says that the execution of juveniles “violates the evolving standards of decency.”
