Here is the scumbag posing with his family.
Posted on 01/17/2006 5:20:43 AM PST by Brilliant
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - California executed its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday, minutes after his 76th birthday, despite arguments that putting to death an elderly, blind and wheelchair-bound man was cruel and unusual punishment.
Clarence Ray Allen was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison. He became the second-oldest inmate put to death nationally since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.
Allen, who was blind and mostly deaf, suffered from diabetes and had a nearly fatal heart attack in September only to be revived and returned to death row, was assisted into the death chamber by four large correctional officers and lifted out of his wheelchair.
His lawyers had raised two claims never before endorsed by the high court: that executing a frail old man would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and that the 23 years he spent on death row were unconstitutionally cruel as well.
The high court rejected his requests for a stay of execution about 10 hours before he was to be put to death. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied Allen clemency Friday.
Allen went to prison for having his teenage son's 17-year-old girlfriend murdered for fear she would tell police about a grocery-store burglary. While behind bars, he tried to have witnesses in the case wiped out, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to death in 1982 for hiring a hit man who killed a witness and two bystanders.
"Allen deserves capital punishment because he was already serving a life sentence for murder when he masterminded the murders of three innocent young people and conspired to attack the heart of our criminal justice system," state prosecutor Ward Campbell said.
Allen expressed his love for family, friends and the other death-row inmates in a final statement read by Warden Steve Ornoski. Allen ended his statement by saying, "It's a good day to die. Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye."
The family of one of Allen's victims, Josephine Rocha, issued a statement saying that "justice has prevailed today."
"Mr. Allen abused the justice system with endless appeals until he lived longer in prison than the short 17 years of Josephine's life," the statement said.
Last month in Mississippi, John B. Nixon, 77, became the oldest person executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed. He did not pursue an appeal based on his age.
Allen's case generated less attention than last month's execution of Crips gang co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams, whose case set off a nationwide debate over the possibility of redemption on death row, with Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes arguing that Williams had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs.
There were only about 200 people gathered outside the prison gates before Allen's execution, about one-tenth of the crowd that came out last month.
Here is the scumbag posing with his family.
Burn, baby, burn!
The only reason this scumbag was old and feeble was his appeal after appeal of his sentence. I have zero sympathy for him.
Happy Birthday!
Good job of blowing out the candle.
ummm... let's streamline and limit these appeals processes in the interest of reducing cruelty ???
The $64,000 question is: who is the hollywood left going to appoint as his successor?. It's quite obvious that the Left Coast is going to continue this murderer-of-the-week game as long as Arnold is in office, convinced they can roll him if they keep it up.
"California executed its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday, minutes after his 76th birthday"
Let me be the first to say: Happy Birthday, asshat.
What, No plea for his life??? They are still having problems about Tookie...
They revived him in September? Waste of money! We should limit the medical procedures on death row.
Good riddence! Should have happened one year after sentencing...
If this guy objected to being executed when he was old he should have requested an earlier date.
Happy Birthday Clarence! Now goodbye!
Buh bye Clarence, Hollyweird was too busy patting themselves on the back to take notice of your execution not that it would have changed anything, what goes around comes around Clarence, you killed and you paid with your life, karma, justice is finally served.
That would be Terri Schiavo.
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