Facing a May 16, 2019 exe­cu­tion date, Alabama death-row pris­on­er Michael Brandon Samra (pic­tured) has asked the United States Supreme Court and Governor Kay Ivey to halt his exe­cu­tion and for the Court to con­sid­er the con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly of impos­ing the death penal­ty upon 19-year-old offend­ers. In a peti­tion filed on April 27, Samra — a teenage offend­er with bor­der­line intel­lec­tu­al func­tion­ing — asked the U.S. Supreme Court to recon­sid­er the appro­pri­ate age cut­off for ban­ning the exe­cu­tion of youth­ful offend­ers. He also has asked Ivey for a reprieve to per­mit courts to rule on the issue.

In 2005, the Supreme Court barred the exe­cu­tion of peo­ple for crimes com­mit­ted before age 18. That deci­sion, in Roper v. Simmons, extend­ed the Court’s pri­or age pro­hi­bi­tion on the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty to offend­ers younger than age 16. Samra’s attor­neys argue that new research in neu­ro­science shows that key areas of the ado­les­cent brain con­tin­ue to mature through a person’s ear­ly twen­ties. Although the ques­tion Samra’s lawyers for­mal­ly pre­sent­ed to the Court is whether the Eighth Amendment ​“permit[s] the exe­cu­tion of youth­ful offend­ers who … were 19 years old at the time of their crime,” the peti­tion urges the Court to for­bid the exe­cu­tion of offend­ers younger than age 21. ​“Compared to adults, per­sons in their late teens and ear­ly 20’s [sic] are: (1) more like­ly to poor­ly assess risk, (2) more like­ly to engage in sen­sa­tion-seek­ing, (3) less able to con­trol their impuls­es and con­sid­er the con­se­quences of their actions, (4) have under­de­vel­oped basic cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties as com­pared to emo­tion­al abil­i­ties, (5) are more affect­ed by peer pres­sure,” Samra’s peti­tion explains. His attor­neys wrote, ​“This Court’s Eighth Amendment jurispru­dence should reflect the real­i­ty that a person’s neu­ro­log­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal devel­op­ment does not sud­den­ly stop on his 18th birthday.”

Samra’s peti­tion to the high court cites a 2017 deci­sion by a Kentucky tri­al court, which held that ​“the death penal­ty would be an uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly dis­pro­por­tion­ate pun­ish­ment for crimes com­mit­ted by indi­vid­u­als under 21 years of age.” That case is cur­rent­ly under appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court and Samra’s attor­neys have asked Governor Ivey to grant a reprieve until it is decid­ed. ​“To pre­vent a mis­car­riage of jus­tice and ensure that Alabama does not car­ry out an uncon­sti­tu­tion­al exe­cu­tion, Samra respect­ful­ly requests a reprieve until the Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled on the ques­tion that would deter­mine whether Samra is cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty,” Samra’s attor­ney wrote. The plea for a reprieve also notes that Samra was less involved in the plan­ning and car­ry­ing out of the crime, com­pared to his co-defen­dant, Mark Duke. It says that Samra helped Duke kill Duke’s father, his father’s girl­friend, and her two daugh­ters, but that Duke planned the killings and killed three of the four vic­tims. Duke, who was 16 at the time of the crimes, was sen­tenced to death. However, his death sen­tence was over­turned when the Supreme Court decid­ed Roper in 2005.

If the Supreme Court and the gov­er­nor allow Samra’s exe­cu­tion to pro­ceed, it will be the sixth in the United States in 2019, and the sec­ond in Alabama. Tennessee has sched­uled the exe­cu­tion of Donnie Edward Johnson for the same night, May 16. [UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court denied Samra’s peti­tion for review on May 14. Gov. Ivey denied his clemen­cy appli­ca­tion May 16 and he was exe­cut­ed that evening.]

(Alabama killer asks Supreme Court to stay exe­cu­tion because of his age at time of mur­ders, Associated Press, May 7, 2019; Inmate, 19 at age of crime, seeks exe­cu­tion reprieve, Associated Press, May 11, 2019; Ivana Hrynkiw, Inmate asks gov­er­nor for clemen­cy ahead of Thursday exe­cu­tion, AL​.com, May 13, 2019.) Read Samra’s peti­tion for a writ of cer­tio­rari. See Juveniles.

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