Posted on 12/14/2005 7:41:04 AM PST by SmithL
Clarence Ray Allen, the next inmate scheduled to die in San Quentin State Prison's execution chamber, may pose a quandary as vexing for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Stanley Tookie Williams.
Allen, who has spent more than a quarter-century on Death Row, is slated to die by lethal injection Jan. 17. He would be the oldest and most infirm prisoner executed in the United States since the death penalty was restored in 1977, according to his lawyers.
Allen, who turns 76 on Jan. 16, uses a wheelchair. An advanced case of diabetes has left him legally blind. He suffered a heart attack Sept. 2.
His lawyers filed a 33-page petition for clemency Tuesday with the governor's office in Sacramento.
"He's the oldest inmate on California's Death Row. ... He's enfeebled," Michael Satris, one of Allen's lawyers, said in an interview. "No prisoner in the state of California has ever been executed at that age.
"It's almost unprecedented worldwide," Satris said. "There hasn't been an execution in this country for more than 50 years of someone as old as Ray Allen."
Several condemned inmates at San Quentin are in their 70s, and more than two dozen are in their 60s.
The state says Allen's deteriorating health is irrelevant.
"He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death, and the law requires that his sentence be carried out regardless of his age or health,"
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Any hollywood stars protesting this thug's impending departure?
And I'm outside the reporter's skull. :D
so...what's the problem?
Heck, just send him a box of candy. That should do the trick.
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