Posted on 01/17/2006 12:54:12 AM PST by CounterCounterCulture
Clarence Ray Allen, a twice-convicted murderer enfeebled by age and illness after more than two decades on Death Row, was executed by lethal injection early today at San Quentin State Prison for ordering three killings from his prison cell in 1980.
Allen, who turned 76 on Monday, was pronounced dead about 12:38 a.m. He is the oldest prisoner ever executed in California and one of the oldest ever put to death in the United States.
His last hope was extinguished Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a stay of execution. Allen was legally blind, suffered from diabetes, had a heart attack in September and was confined to a wheelchair, and his attorneys argued that executing a prisoner so old and sick would violate the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
Only one justice, Stephen Breyer, voted to grant a stay.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had denied a clemency request Friday that also stressed Allen's age and infirmity. "The passage of time does not excuse Allen from the jury's punishment," Schwarzenegger said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
(SNIP)
Allen asked for buffalo steak and white-meat chicken from KFC, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Elaine Jennings. He was to drink whole milk. For dessert, Allen, who is diabetic, ordered sugar-free pecan pie and black walnut ice cream.
(SNIP)
Heh, heh, he should have had the sugar!!!!
He sure had plenty of time to make his peace with God and repent.
With no celebrity inmate in the execution chamber this time, the ranks of death penalty protesters were considerably thinner Monday night outside San Quentin State Prison.
(SNIP)
The scene was familiar: TV lights blazing, people shivering in the night air and waves lapping on the shoreline of the bay. But Allen's scheduled execution did not draw the oratory of the Rev. Jesse Jackson or the folk-singing of Joan Baez, both of whom were among the 2,000 people outside San Quentin's walls the night Stanley Tookie Williams was put to death last month.
Joss Eldredge, 55, a San Francisco dog walker who showed up to protest Monday night, said the turnout was "hypocritical" compared with the showing for Williams, a former gang leader who had claimed redemption through his subsequent antiviolence writings. He was executed Dec. 13.
"Clearly, a number of people were here last time because of Williams' celebrity,'' Eldredge said. "It bothers me quite a bit that not as many people are here today, but it's the same death penalty.''
Indeed.
GOOD!
Exactly 29 years to the day after the execution of Gary Gilmore
Which should have kept him healthy 'til the crack of doom.
Now THAT is cruel and unusual . . . just like non-fat gravy or unsalted potato chips: WTF is the point?
He was worried it might kill him? ;-)
Do they have senior citizen discounts in Hell?
That's weird.
But weirder still, Pecan Pie is filled with a sugar-and-syrup goo. So WTF is in sugar-free pecan pie? It ain't natural.
It's like a low-fiber bran muffin, or decaffeinated coffee, or powdered milk. It just doesn't make sense.
I say this is a good thing.
L
Well, they have them at the Old Country Buffet, and that's as close to hell as I ever care to come.
ping
It tastes like lard flavored jello
Good one!
My dad calls them the blue haired commandos and my brother refers to them as silverbacks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.