34:
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granted a stay of
Simmons' execution while they considered Franz's petition. The Arkansas courts ultimately rejected Franz's petition due to the fact that Franz had not established that he had previously met Simmons, let alone had a close relationship to him. Franz also claimed standing as an aggrieved taxpayer and a concerned citizen. Both of those claims were also rejected.
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greatest extent possible that no person is wrongfully executed. A person is just as wrongfully executed when he is innocent of the crime or was improperly convicted as when he was erroneously sentenced to death. States therefore must provide review of both the convictions and sentences in death cases."
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Prior to
Whitmore seeking appeal of Simmons' sentence, Louis J. Franz filed an appeal for Simmons as his next friend. Franz was a Catholic priest who ministered to prisoners in Arkansas and was also a member of Arkansas Churches for Life, an anti-death penalty organization. The Arkansas Supreme Court
360:
Lastly, Whitmore was ineligible to file suit as next friend because
Simmons, as an evidentiary hearing had shown, " given a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of his right to proceed, and his access to court otherwise unimpeded." Next friend was designed for cases where the real party in
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claim in federal court. Whitmore wanted to see
Simmons' case appealed within Arkansas because he believed that if his plea in the federal courts was successful and he was granted a new trial in which he was convicted anew, during sentencing, his single murder would look far less bad than Simmons'
292:
Arkansas state law allowed the waiving of capital appeals so long as a separate hearing determined the competence of the condemned man. With
Simmons' competence verified, his execution was to proceed when a fellow death row inmate, Jonas Whitmore, filed suit against the state of Arkansas both for
381:
While appellate review is, as previously decided, not required in non-capital cases, "the unique, irrevocable nature of the death penalty necessitates safeguards not required for other punishments," as "he core concern of all our death penalty decisions is that States take steps to ensure to the
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Whitmore had been sent to
Arkansas' death row in 1989 for stabbing to death a 62-year-old woman and robbing her of $ 250 after she had let him into her home and fed him milk and cookies. Whitmore had exhausted his direct line of appeals within the state and was about to pursue a
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Whitmore, as a citizen, has standing because appellate review "protect society's fundamental interest in ensuring that the coercive power of the State is not employed in a manner that shocks the community's conscience or undermines the integrity of our criminal justice
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While
Simmons had the right to appellate review, it did not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment" for Simmons to not be forced to request appellate review, and thus Whitmore had no cause for action as an interested member of the
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Whitmore's "hypothetical" claim of injury was rejected as
Whitmore could not prove that Simmons' appeal would change the outcome of a future sentencing review for Whitmore. Furthermore, that mandatory appellate review of Simmons' case was not a right "granted to
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Simmons is unable to waive appellate review as a defendant cannot make a "voluntary submission to a barbaric punishment," just as "a defendant's consent to being drawn and quartered or burned at the stake would not license the State to exact such
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I, Ronald Gene
Simmons, Sr., want it to be known that it is my wish and my desire that absolutely no action by anybody be taken to appeal or in any way change this sentence. It is further respectfully requested that this sentence be carried out
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of sixteen people and sentenced to death. Arkansas state law did not require appellate review of capital sentences, and
Simmons chose to contest neither the conviction nor the sentence, in fact, requesting a speedy execution:
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unless there is a prior relationship to the appellant and unless the appellant is "unable to litigate his own cause due to mental incapacity, lack of access to court, or other similar disability".
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to deny both Christian Peregrim, a private citizen, and Frank Dunham, a public defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, next of friend standing to request
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He suffered injury by Simmons' lack of appeal and therefore the absence of Simmons' murder being considered during comparative review.
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interest is "unable to litigate his own cause due to mental incapacity, lack of access to court, or other similar disability".
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On March 15, 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for Whitmore to give time for it to consider his case.
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Whitmore also filed as next friend to Simmons, trying to force, in Simmons' name, the appeal that Simmons himself refused.
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In 1989, the Arkansas Supreme Court, citing Franz's petition, rejected Whitmore's motion to intervene in Simmons' case.
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Lack of appellate review violated the Constitution's protections against cruel and unusual punishment and due process.
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massacre of sixteen. Whitmore's attempt to force Simmons's case into appeal was three-pronged, arguing that:
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do not require mandatory appellate review of death penalty cases and that individuals cannot file cases as a
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On March 30, 1989, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a stay of execution.
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Rev Louis J. Franz, Individually and as Next Friend of Ronald Gene Simmons v. State of Arkansas
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Rev Louis J. Franz, Individually and as Next Friend of Ronald Gene Simmons v. State of Arkansas
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689:"Trail of Terror: 25 Years After The Ronald Gene Simmons Murders Part 1"
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Rehnquist, joined by White, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy
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422:, an American-born resident of Kuwait who was captured in Afghanistan.
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Ronald Gene Simmons was executed by lethal injection on June 25, 1990.
255:, 495 U.S. 149 (1990), is a U.S. Supreme Court Case that held that the
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Whitmore, Individually and as Next Friend of Simmons v. Arkansas et al.
719:"Arkansas Mass Murderer, Texas Killer Executed After Refusing Appeals"
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do not require mandatory appellate review of capital sentences.
33:
858:
Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause and death penalty case law
612:"Whitmore v. Arkansas 110 S. Ct. 1717, 109 L.Ed.2d 135 (1990)"
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was cited in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in
475:"Arkansas Supreme Court orders stay of execution for Simmons"
745:"Arkansas Establishes Record By Executing 2 on Same Night"
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The Court ruled against Whitmore on April 24, 1990, with
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United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court
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473:Scripps Howard News Service (June 21, 1988).
402:Jonas Whitmore was executed on May 11, 1994.
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643:"Article III Limits on Statutory Standing"
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518:) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
458:) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
559:The Associated Press (March 17, 1989).
533:The Associated Press (March 16, 1989).
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16:1990 United States Supreme Court casess
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21:1990 United States Supreme Court case
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377:. Justice Marshall concluded that:
348:writing for the majority of seven.
687:Trager, Lauren (October 25, 2012).
373:wrote a dissent that was joined by
293:himself and on behalf of Simmons.
39:Supreme Court of the United States
14:
863:United States Supreme Court cases
785:149 (1990) is available from:
586:"Simmons Execution Stayed Again"
32:
641:Roberts, John G. (April 1993).
561:"Execution Halted Indefinitely"
873:1990 in United States case law
853:Capital punishment in Arkansas
1:
535:"High Court Blocks Execution"
220:Marshall, joined by Brennan
889:
835:Oyez (oral argument audio)
504:. 296 Arkansas 181. 1988.
444:. 296 Arkansas 111. 1988.
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514:: CS1 maint: location (
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616:Capital Defense Journal
346:Chief Justice Rehnquist
317:Petition by Louis Franz
231:U.S. Const. amend. VIII
46:Argued January 10, 1990
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152:William J. Brennan Jr.
48:Decided April 24, 1990
622:(1). November 1, 1990
479:The Houston Chronicle
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278:was convicted of the
261:Fourteenth Amendments
126:Fourteenth Amendments
91:110 S. Ct. 1717; 109
775:Whitmore v. Arkansas
723:The Associated Press
590:The Associated Press
340:Opinion of the Court
326:Petition by Whitmore
252:Whitmore v. Arkansas
27:Whitmore v. Arkansas
826:Library of Congress
699:on January 17, 2013
276:Ronald Gene Simmons
184:Sandra Day O'Connor
749:The New York Times
565:The New York Times
539:The New York Times
148:Associate Justices
411:Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
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164:Thurgood Marshall
144:William Rehnquist
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729:December 1,
596:December 1,
570:December 1,
544:December 1,
484:December 1,
420:Yaser Hamdi
418:relief for
280:mass murder
265:next friend
243:§ 2242
160:Byron White
847:Categories
426:References
271:Background
97:U.S. LEXIS
95:135; 1990
63:Docket no.
510:cite book
450:cite book
395:Aftermath
93:L. Ed. 2d
73:Citations
773:Text of
406:Whitmore
386:system."
259:and the
209:Majority
124:and the
105:Argument
790:Cornell
667:1372783
366:Dissent
357:public.
217:Dissent
115:Holding
67:88-7146
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817:Justia
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693:KARK-4
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416:habeas
257:Eighth
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122:Eighth
781:
663:JSTOR
783:U.S.
757:2012
731:2012
705:2012
674:2012
628:2012
598:2012
572:2012
546:2012
520:link
516:link
486:2012
460:link
456:link
120:The
99:2182
86:more
78:U.S.
76:495
779:495
655:doi
235:XIV
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