Christopher Simmons execution delayed

State officials and people on both sides of the death penalty were perplexed Wednesday after the Missouri Supreme Court delayed by about a month the scheduled execution of Christopher Simmons.

Simmons, who turns 26 Friday, was originally scheduled to die by injection May 1 at the Potosi Correctional Center.

The Supreme Court, without explanation and apparently without prompting, rescheduled the execution to June 5.

It's an execution that death penalty opponents have been seeking to stop altogether, largely because Simmons was 17, a juvenile, when he pushed a suburban St. Louis woman from a bridge after robbing her home in 1993.

But Simmons' attorney Jennifer Brewer said appeals had not yet been filed to the court.

"This is something I have never seen them do before," she said. "It was definitely something they did totally on their own."

Simmons was happy, but not overwhelmed, by the decision, Brewer said.

"His reaction was a month was certainly better than nothing," she said.

Surprise to state

Spokesmen for Attorney General Jay Nixon and Gov. Bob Holden said they neither requested the delay nor knew why it was granted.

There was speculation the court might be waiting to see whether state lawmakers would approve a bill raising the minimum age for executions.

Missouri law allows anyone 16 or older who commits first-degree murder to be sentenced to death.