Posted on 01/14/2006 9:26:34 AM PST by Former Military Chick
California's oldest death row inmate a 75-year-old who is legally blind and nearly deaf is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to do something it has never done before: block an execution because of the condemned man's advanced age and infirmity.
Clarence Ray Allen's attorneys contend that executing a feeble old man amounts to cruel and unusual punishment banned by the U.S. Constitution.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday denied Allen clemency. Barring a last-minute reprieve by the courts, the governor's decision means Allen will become the second-oldest person put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.
He is set to die by injection Tuesday for ordering three slayings while behind bars for another murder.
Allen, who turns 76 on the eve of his execution, has been on death row for more than 23 years. He often uses a wheelchair and had to be resuscitated after suffering a heart attack last year at San Quentin Prison.
"The spectacle of Mr. Allen being wheeled into the death chamber, unable to walk and unable to see those who have come to witness his execution, violates all standards of decency and would amount to nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering prohibited by the Eighth Amendment," said Annette Carnegie, one of Allen's attorneys.
Schwarzenegger said Allen's age and health did not matter and noted that he committed his crimes at the age of 50. "His conduct did not result from youth or inexperience, but instead resulted from the hardened and calculating decisions of a mature man."
Allen's death sentence has been delayed by 23 years of appeals. He "should not escape the jury's punishment because our system works deliberately and carefully," Schwarzenegger said.
In his two years in office, Schwarzenegger has denied three petitions for clemency based on claims of innocence, mental incompetence, and good behavior or good deeds in prison. The last time a California governor granted clemency was in 1967, when Gov. Ronald Reagan spared a mentally ill killer.
I resent the way the press makes it seem that executing Mr Allen is Schwarzenegger's doing. He isn't responsible for a jury's decision: The People of California are.
A Governor granting clemency to a convicted murderer is an extraoridary intervention in our justice system that should be reserved as a last and seldom used option. The jury has spoken. The appropriate appeals are denied. Time to let justice take its course.
If this guy hadn't murdered other people they'd be calling this euthanasia and liberals would be all for it.
---And the recidivism rate for executed felons is zero.---
And after execution Clarence will no longer be old and feeble, he'll be dead like his victims, and like we'll all be one day. In the mean time we'll no longer have to watch his sorry ass.
Sounds feasible, doesn't it?
Beautiful!!!
Let him go and chant with dead old tookie. Arnold did the right thing, twice. YAY!
What the hell is going on in the State of FRUITS, NUTS and FLAKES?
California: America's Cereal Bowel
Thank you.
You are right, it is very possible that we would have 3 folks alive had other punishments been handed down.
Now, he must face his punishment. Than it is time for the shooter.
LOL! A big bowl of Granola.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I respectfully disagree with you. Call me insensitive but Death Row murderers should be resuscitated so that they can receive the punishment that they deserve.
It is ironic and fitting that he is scheduled to be executed on the eve of his birthday. Bye bye, you degenerate murderer.
I respectfully disagree with you. Call me insensitive but Death Row murderers should be resuscitated so that they can receive the punishment that they deserve.
It is ironic and fitting that he is scheduled to be executed on the eve of his birthday. Bye bye, you degenerate murderer.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
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