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 ...
He was clearly capable of ordering murders from his cell. So why did they let him continue to stay in a cell for a quarter of a century?
Stupid liberal tricks. Delay the execution for almost 30 years, and then claim the person shouldn't be executed because he's old now. Sorry, not falling for it.
Allen arranged to have 4 witnesses to his original crime killed. Three of the murders he arranged from prison.
This guy is the Poster Child for the Death Penalty.
Four people were massacred last night in a Boston Rap studio. Does Tookie have an alibi?
I guess the names and stories of those he murdered are not worth mentioning. After all, it was a long time ago, so F 'em.
Maybe if it didn't take twenty five years for this case to move through the system, Arnie wouldn't be executing an old man.
What offends me most is the dumb "reasons" these people have for opposition to the death penalty in any given case.
The only thing unfair about his upcoming execution is the delay in the administration of justice. Death penalty sentences should carry an obligation by the state to carry out the sentence as soon as possible.
He's a white guy. Nobody cares.
In reviewing the case earlier this year, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found no doubt that Allen was guilty of commissioning three murders in Fresno from his prison cell in 1980 while serving a life term for ordering another murder.The court wrote that although Allen's trial counsel failed to represent him adequately, evidence of his guilt was "overwhelming." The panel concluded that the crimes warranted "the harshest penalty" under the law.
Allen, who ran a security company in Fresno, was linked by prosecutors to a series of armed robberies in the Central Valley. He was sentenced to life in prison for ordering the murder in 1974 of his son's girlfriend. From behind bars at Folsom Prison, prosecutors said, he masterminded the murders in 1980 of three witnesses from his previous trial and conspired to kill four other witnesses.
So this turd should be spared just because he happened to age on Death Row? Please.
And what a shamelessly biased Chronic article.
But he has a band around his head. He could be American Indian. If he's not, his death will be celebrated by the left. They'll just see it as a simple house cleaning.
It's odd how the left values a life based on a "potential vote".
"Gravely ill and blind man"
He won't see that coming...
I can guarantee Schwarzenegger is going to let this one live. The first decision made him look tough, this one will make him look compassionate. He factored this one in when he made the earlier decision.
He won't see that coming...
My husband was wondering if they still swap the criminals arm with alcohol before injecting the needle. Why would they be concerned about infections when the object is to eliminate the guy anyway?
So he spikes the black prisoner and spares the white prisoner? I don't see that happening.
Just imagine how "peaceful" and "beautiful" he could become.
Wait. Someone in the state of California's government said that? There are Freepers everywhere!!!
He could always show his compassion by starving the guy to death. That way the guy will appear more beautiful, die peacefully, die with dignity, and go out in a euphoric state.
Yep. The kindest thing to do is starve the guy to death.
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