BY ERIKA JENSEN – “… the death penalty in relation to juvenile offenders, confirms that international law concerning the imposition of the death penalty in relation to juveniles clearly establishes that the imposition of the death penalty on persons aged under 18 years at the time of the offence is in contravention of customary international law.” [1]
Although the United Nations warned that the death penalty in relation to persons under 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime has no place in international law, the United States refused to take heed until little too late. Counsel for Gerald Mitchell filed a Petition for 30-day Reprieve from Execution of Death Sentence in Capital Case and for Commutation of Sentence to Imprisonment for Life directed to the Governor of the State of Texas and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.[2] Mitchell’s Petition was subsequently denied and on October 22, 2001, Mitchell was executed by lethal injection. [3]
When he was just 17 years of age, Mitchell met up with two men in an attempt to sell drugs to them.[4] Instead, he forced them to drive to a vacant house where he later robbed and shot the pair.[5] Leaving them for dead, Mitchell drove off in the victim’s vehicle.[6] Mitchell was sentenced to two consecutive sixty-year sentences for the murder of one victim and attempted murder of the other victim.[7]
At the time of Mitchell’s execution, the United States did not restrict persons under the age of 18 years at the time of the commission of a crime from receiving the death penalty. Four years after Mitchell’s death, on March 1, 2005 the United States Supreme Court held in Roper v. Simmons that applying the death penalty to those under eighteen years of age constituted cruel and unusual punishment and was prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.[8]
Fourteen years later, the United States is once more faced with a similar issue. Will they heed the words of the United Nations this time? Stacey Johnson, now 45, is facing execution in Arkansas for a murder he committed in 1993.[9] Johnson beat, strangled, and slit the throat of a woman while her two children were present in the home.[10]
Although many states have repealed the death penalty, Arkansas still accepts this practice. Johnson, age 23 at the time of the commission of the crime, is not eligible for relief under the Roper court ruling because he was over eighteen. Similar to Mitchell, Johnson has filed for clemency, hoping to prolong his inevitable fate.[11] Generally, an inmate has until 40 days before their scheduled execution to file an application. Some exceptions can be made for untimely filed applications providing such exceptions are in the interest of justice.[12] If clemency is granted, the inmate can be granted either total forgiveness of the crime in the form of a pardon or a reduction in the sentence.[13] At this rate, death followed by apologetic legislature recognizing the death penalty as the cruel and unusual monster it is, is all Johnson can hope for.
In the words of the United Nations “… abolition of the death penalty contributed to the enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights,”[14] which “… is often imposed after trials which do not conform to international standards of fairness and that members of racial, national or ethnic minorities appear to be disproportionately subject to the death penalty.”[15] The United Nations has spoken and it’s about time the United States listened. Will Johnson be another Mitchell? Another victim lost in the crossfire between should we and should we not? Johnson’s conduct is not condoned nor excused; however, the death penalty has run its course and should no longer be an option.
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[1] U.N. Economic and Social Council, The Administration of Justice and Human Rights: Application of International Standards Concerning the Human Rights of Detained Juveniles, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/L.29 (2000)
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/G00/149/23/PDF/G0014923.pdf.
[2] Application/Petition for 30-Day Reprieve from Execution of Death Sentence in Capital Case and for Commutation of Sentence to Imprisonment for Life, 1 (2001) http://murderpedia.org/male.M/images/m/mitchell_gerald/clemency.pdf.
[3] David Carson, Execution Report: Gerald Mitchell, Texas Execution Information Center (Oct. 24, 2001) http://www.txexecutions.org/reports/253.asp.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Roper v. Simmons, 125 S.Ct. 1183 (2005).
[9] Claudia Lauer, Arkansas Inmate Set for Execution Applies for Clemency, ABC News (Sept. 28, 2015) http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/arkansas-inmate-set-execution-applies-clemency-34113613.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] U.N. Economic and Social Council, The Administration of Justice and Human Rights: Application of International Standards Concerning the Human Rights of Detained Juveniles, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/L.29 (2000)
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/G00/149/23/PDF/G0014923.pdf
[15] Id.
