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.
I’m against punishment by death. It doesn’t mean one shouldn’t have consequences for what they do. It simply means the “punishment” part has been taken care of. People seem to think punishment=consequences, but they are not the same thing.
Just and effective consequences are incarceration for reasons that include restraint (protecting society from dangerous criminals), deterrence, restoration where possible, voluntary rehabilitation, and forced productivity to pay one’s way through their stay at the Big House.
“It doesn’t solve anything.”
As another poster said, paraphrased, the person executed will never again murder anyone else.
Yeah; but the dead don’t get out of prison and kill someone else.
Then you have no respect for the LIFE of innocent victims. If a murderer is allowed to live, then there is no justice for the victim.
Do you think a guy like Ted Bundy should have been allowed to live to a ripe old age masturbating every night while thinking of all the good times he had torturing and raping and murdering young girls?
Should he be allowed to live while his victims lie dead in the ground?
Those who have a blanket objection to the death penalty have no respect for life. Those who take innocent life should not be allowed to live. That was what God decreed 4000 years ago and nothing changed that.
Just out of curiosity, do you guys know some body on death row?
If you are asking, “Do you think Obama is G-d”? My answer is, no I do not, but those who voted for him and worship him do.
All true when there is not a speedy carriage of judicial decision— ie... execution. The constant delaying dilutes the value of the law to the public as a deterrent. Makes the law meaningless. Will say that life in prison, with life in isolation would be a worse fate to those who wanted freedom.
There is a reason why people who are actively pro-abortion are almost universally against the death penalty. Do you know the reason?
Simple. To kill an innocent the guilty must be spared.
Are you trying to say that because Jesus died for our sins that it is OK to commit murder?
Measured vengeance is true justice and it entails a fair trial and the rule of law.
Rabid vengeance is mob justice and it is the rule of man and against gods law and mans law.
Executing a murderer after a fair trial is the definition of measured vengeance.
Rabid dogs should be put down. When someone kills and kills and kills again for no noble reason like self protection or protection of your country or the rule of law. They are a rabid dog and must be treated as such.
You are right.
Just out of curiosity, if someone raped and tortured and murdered your three year old daughter or granddaughter would you favor the death penalty for that monster?
Or would you find comfort in the fact that he will continue to live for the next 50 years getting a sexual thrill every day from the memory of that event and getting 3 square meals a day, television, and free medical care while you pay for his useless existence by your taxes?
And if you would favor the death penalty in that case, then what gives you the right to dictate to others how they should react and to deny them the justice that you would desire.
When the State executes a murderer they are acting on behalf of not only the people of the state, but on behalf of the victim and the victim’s family.
The problem is believing that when a person with a hole in his brain says he knows what he did was wrong, it means the same thing as it does when a person without a hole in his brain says it. Or that a person with a hole in his brain had the control over his actions he would have if he didn't have a hole in his brain.
This is long but it corresponds to what you have been saying:
Number 35:33 explains why it is essential to put murderers to death:
the blood that they have shed “defileth the land.” When a man is murdered, the earth opens “her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood” (Gen. 4:11). God did not create the earth for this purpose; thus, when blood is shed the land is profaned and corrupted. The good land that was made to sustain life is defiled when it receives the blood of a murdered man. Furthermore, the blood of the slain man cries out to God for justice (Gen. 4:10). When God created the land He saw that it was good; but now, wherever He sees innocent blood He sees a land that has been corrupted by sinful men; instead of the joyful songs of men enjoying the good land, He hears the mournful cry of the blood of the murdered man calling for justice.
The text states that the only way that the land can be cleansed of innocent blood is by the execution of the murderer: “and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.” A man defiled the land by his sin, other men can cleanse the land only by their obedience. Those who are charged with upholding God’s law and visiting God’s vengeance on evil doers (Rom. 13:4) cleanse the land of the pollution of innocent blood by obeying God’s command to execute murderers. By taking the life of the murderer, the demands of justice are met, and, therefore, the guilt of innocent blood is removed and the people who live on the land where the blood was shed are freed from the guilt of failing to “slay the slayer.”
If the magistrates and the people refuse to carry out God’s vengeance on the killer, they themselves will be under the wrath of God for failing to see murder as He sees it and for failing to punish it as He commands. The land would then be polluted in a three-fold way: by innocent blood, by the presence of the murderer, and by the people who have cast reproach upon God and His Word. The community bears the responsibility of investigating the murder and punishing the culprit according to God’s law. If it does not, then it incurs the guilt of disobedience and causes the stain of innocent blood to remain on the community itself because it has disregarded God’s command.
A death sentence is not to be taken lightly. But it has it’s place. In some cases, it is the only just verdict. Take Tsarnaev for instance. What does justice cry out for here in your opinion?
the reason why is that those that favor abortion have no empathy for the fetus and are looking for a easy out on there responsibilities to there fellow man. the reason they don’t favor the death penalty is that they identify with the perpetrator and really don’t value life.
May be more here than you think.
I can’t throw the first stone either.
I am surprised I never came across you here before, but I am glad I did.
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.