Posted on 03/17/2015 9:02:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Missouri cop killer Cecil Clayton was executed Tuesday night after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected arguments he should be spared because he was missing a piece of his brain.
Clayton, who at 74 was the state's oldest death-row prisoner, was pronounced dead at 9:21 pm CT, eight minutes after his lethal injection was administered, prison officials said in a statement.
"They brought me up here to execute me," he said in his final statement.
Clayton was convicted of murdering sheriff's deputy Chris Castetter after a domestic disturbance in 1996. His case drew extra attention because of his brain injury, the result of a 1972 sawmill accident that forced doctors to remove one-fifth of his frontal lobe. His lawyers contended the damage not only sparked a massive personality change that may have turned him into a killer, but also rendered him mentally incompetent and therefore ineligible for capital punishment.
"Cecil Clayton had — literally — a hole in his head," his attorney, Elizabeth Unger Carlyle, said in a statement after the execution. "Executing him without a hearing violated the Constitution, Missouri law and basic human dignity.
"He suffered from severe mental illness and dementia related to his age and multiple brain injuries," she added. "The world will not be a safer place because Mr. Clayton has been executed."
Missouri had argued that medical experts found Clayton understood why he was being executed and that meant he was competent to face the needle. They argued that his intellectual deficits had to be present before he turned 18 to let him escape execution and that he waited too long to raise his claim.
Castetter's brother said in a statement that he had no doubt Clayton was in his right mind.
"We know this execution isn't going to bring Chris back," he said. "But it destroys an evil person that would otherwise be walking this earth."
Clayton's 11th-hour appeals delayed his execution for several hours. But ultimately, none of the U.S. Supreme Court justices accepted his claims arguments for a stay based on his brain injury.
Four justices from the liberal wing did say they would have granted a stay based on his claim that Missouri's secrecy-shrouded process for obtaining the lethal dose of pentobarbital could lead to an unconstitutional death.
Gov. Jay Nixon also denied him clemency in the final minutes, saying he agreed with the state's assessment that Clayton was competent.
"This crime was brutal and there exists no question of Clayton's guilt," he said in a statement.
If he had enough of a brain to kill someone, he had enough of one to be punished for it.
The world is better off without this murderer.
The death sentence is among other things, an exercise in futility.
It solves nothing, it heals nothing, it satisfies vengeance which many confuse for justice, it reconciles nothing, is irreversible, and is unjust.
The recidivism rate is zero, though.
Many in prison and leading a life of crime are missing part of their brain.
>>>His case drew extra attention because of his brain injury, the result of a 1972 sawmill accident that forced doctors to remove one-fifth of his frontal lobe<<<
So, prior to 1972 he was a Conservative, and after 1972 he was a Liberal?
Thanks to our ridicules judicial appeals system, this arsehole lived to the ripe old age of 74, when he should have been executed many years ago.
ghosts
I spend very little time worrying about criminals that have been executed. It occupies number 2,343 on my concern list.
All better now!
That's got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever read. In fact, I'm officially astonished. With one single statement you've managed to throw out the entirety of Western Civilization. Every last bit of it. I wouldn't have thought it possible, even on a bet, but there it is - you did it.
You are aware, aren't you that God decreed that "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." Genesis 9:6?
I noticed that you use God in your tagline. Are you suggesting that God's decreed punishment for murder "solves nothing, it heals nothing, it satisfies vengeance which many confuse for justice, it reconciles nothing, is irreversible, and is unjust."?
Do you believe that you are more wise, compassionate and holy than God?
“it satisfies vengeance”
Do you have a thing against vengeance?
A very recent study, most comprehensive ever done on the death penalty, concluded that for every murderer executed, ten people were spared being murdered.
Reference; Lars Larson
Do you think Obama id G-d?
Where did that come from?
“Missouri had argued that medical experts found Clayton understood why he was being executed and that meant he was competent to face the needle.”
He was competent. He knew what he did and that it was wrong. What’s the problem here?
There is a reason why people who are actively pro-abortion are almost universally against the death penalty. Do you know the reason?
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.