Washington, D.C.

Supreme Court to consider banning execution of teens

The Supreme Court said Monday it would decide whether the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, the latest step in the court’s re-examination of capital punishment in America.

The high court could ban the practice, as four justices have urged, or it could reaffirm earlier rulings that allowed states to decide for themselves whether to make 16- and 17-year-olds eligible for execution.

The court’s answer, expected in the term that begins next fall, follows landmark decisions two years ago that banned the execution of the mentally retarded and required that juries, not judges, be the final arbiters of who is sent to death row.

As in the case of retarded killers, the latest case does not challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty as a whole.

Thirty-eight states now allow the death penalty, although in practice some states never impose the sentence. Kansas is among 17 states to ban the sentence for those under 18.

The Case is Roper v. Simmons, 03-633.

Iraq

U.S. forces search for soldiers after boat, helicopter wrecks

U.S. forces aided by Iraqis searched the muddy waters of the Tigris river Monday in northern Iraq for a soldier and two pilots missing after a helicopter crashed while searching for a river patrol boat that had overturned.

Two Iraqi policemen and an Iraqi translator accompanying the American soldiers in the patrol boat were confirmed killed in the incident, said the spokeswoman. But one soldier was still missing while three others survived, she said.

The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter, attached to the 101st Airborne Division, crashed in the Tigris in the northern town of Mosul on Sunday evening during a search-and-rescue mission a couple of hours later and both crew members were missing. The U.S. military said it was still investigating, but initial indications were that both crashes “were not the result of enemy action.”

Florida

Teenager sentenced to life for wrestling death freed

Lionel Tate, the teen who killed a 6-year-old playmate and became the youngest defendant in the nation to be locked away for life, was released Monday after three years behind bars.

“For now, Lionel wants to go home, he wants to feel his pillow, he wants to sleep in his own bed and his mom cook to make him his favorite meal tonight,” said his attorney Richard Rosenbaum.

Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus earlier ordered Tate freed without bail, a month after an appeals court threw out the boy’s conviction because his mental competency was not evaluated before trial. Tate, 16, has since struck a plea bargain that will mean no further time in prison.

Supporters have rallied from the Vatican to the United Nations to free Tate since he was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick three years ago. Tate was 12 when he punched, kicked and stomped the 48-pound girl to death in 1999.