Case could end executions in U.S. for crimes by minors
/The eyes of the nation - and of the world - will turn to a Missouri
case that will be heard by the Supreme Court in the term that begins
today. Named for a Potosi, Mo., prison superintendent and a man who
awaited a death sentence there for a murder he committed at age 17,
Roper vs. Simmons will be argued before the nation's highest court Oct.
13. If the justices uphold a Missouri Supreme Court decision that
overturned Christopher Simmons' death sentence, it could mean the end
of executions of anyone in the United States who committed a capital
crime as a minor. Nobel Prize laureates, diplomats and dozens of
nations, including the European Union, have joined U.S.-based medical,
religious and civil rights groups to urge the justices to rule for
Simmons. [more 
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