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"Hamilton was convicted of being the trigger man for Clarence Ray Allen, a Folsom Prison convict who at that time was serving a life sentence for an earlier murder. Prosecutors convinced jurors that Hamilton had killed the three young people to carry out Allen's revenge against the owners of Fran's Market, Ray and Fran Schletewitz, for testimony against him in an earlier case."

Scheduled to die Tuesday, 76-year-old said execution was unconstitutional. Convicted killer Clarence Ray Allen is scheduled to die early Tuesday morning. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from a convicted killer who argued that he was too old and feeble to be executed. Clarence Ray Allen, whose 76th birthday was Monday, was set to die by lethal injection just after midnight. He stood to become the oldest person executed in California — and the second-oldest put to death nationally — since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. Allen— legally blind, nearly deaf and in...

Time’s Up, ClarenceWhy the crowds aren’t shouting to spare an aged death-row inmate by MICHAEL KRIKORIAN via the LA Weekly(excerpted)"While serving a life sentence at Folsom State Prison for a murder for hire in Fresno, he arranged for the killings of the witnesses in his case. His apparent rationale was that he would get a retrial and, boom, voilà, there would be no witnesses because they had all been mysteriously murdered. Not the brightest guy in the joint, this Allen.The tragedy starts in 1974. According to court documents..........

The California Supreme Court today moved condemned inmate Clarence Ray Allen a step closer to execution, rejecting his latest bid for a reprieve based on the argument he is too old and sick to be put to death. In a brief order, the court without explanation unanimously refused to delay Allen's execution, scheduled for shortly after midnight Monday. Allen can still hope for clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has yet to make a decision on his fate, and also try last-ditch legal appeals in the federal courts. But time is running out for Allen, who has lost repeated rounds...

SACRAMENTO - California's capital punishment debate -- ignited by the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams -- will likely intensify as the state prepares to carry out death sentences at a pace unseen in more than a generation. Williams, the quadruple murderer and co-founder of the Crips whose tale of redemption failed to spare his life last month, was the 12th inmate executed in California since voters reinstated capital punishment nearly three decades ago. In 2006, four inmates could enter the execution chamber, including the state's oldest death row resident, 75-year-old Clarence Ray Allen, according to the state attorney general's office....

KCBS) - The lawyer for the next inmate scheduled for execution at San Quentin has renewed his argument for clemency, appealing to the governor to spare what remains of 75-year-old Clarence Ray Allen's life. Allen is scheduled to die by lethal injection on January 17, one day after his 76th birthday. He would be the oldest inmate California has ever put to death. His attorney, Michael Satris, argues in a clemency letter sent to Governor Schwarzenegger on Tuesday that killing such an old man is "cruel and unusual" under both the state and federal constitutions. "He poses no danger to...

State prosecutors urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today to deny clemency to a 75-year-old condemned inmate, saying that the prisoner was a cold-blooded killer and his advanced age is no reason for mercy. Clarence Ray Allen is scheduled to be executed at San Quentin State Prison on Jan. 17 for masterminding the murders of three people at a Fresno market in 1980 while he was in prison for another murder. The execution date is the day after Allen's 76th birthday. In a clemency petition submitted to Schwarzenegger last week, his lawyers asked the governor to commute the death penalty to life...

SAN FRANCISCO A federal judge has rejected California's oldest and most infirm death row inmate's petition to block or postpone his January 17th execution. Lawyers for 75-year-old Clarence Ray Allen say he is too sick to help adequately prepare a clemency petition for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They also blame Allen's maladies on shoddy health care at San Quentin State Prison. Allen suffered a heart attack in September, is nearly deaf and blind, and uses a wheelchair. U-S District Judge Jeffrey White, in a decision made public today, said Allen should inform Schwarzenegger of his concerns and leave the judge out...

A federal judge in San Francisco rejected a stay of execution Friday for a 75-year-old man who is scheduled to be executed next month at San Quentin State Prison. Clarence Ray Allen had asked for the stay so he could be treated for a number of ailments, which would help him prepare for a clemency petition with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said his attorney Michael Satris. In his federal lawsuit, Allen said laser eye surgery would allow him to participate in tests that would determine if he suffers from organic brain damage. His lawyers say Allen is legally blind. In addition,...

Clarence Ray Allen, the next inmate scheduled to die in San Quentin State Prison's execution chamber, may pose a quandary as vexing for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Stanley Tookie Williams. Allen, who has spent more than a quarter-century on Death Row, is slated to die by lethal injection Jan. 17. He would be the oldest and most infirm prisoner executed in the United States since the death penalty was restored in 1977, according to his lawyers. Allen, who turns 76 on Jan. 16, uses a wheelchair. An advanced case of diabetes has left him legally blind. He suffered a heart...

With the failure of a high-profile clemency bid for Stanley Tookie Williams, legal observers say a reprieve seems even less likely for two more death row inmates who are facing execution in coming months -- and the pace of capital punishment could increase in California over the next two years.Hours after Williams was put to death on Tuesday, death penalty opponents vowed to renew their efforts against the execution of 75-year-old Clarence Ray Allen of Fresno, scheduled for Jan. 17, by arguing that no civilized society should kill a prisoner who is elderly, partially blind and confined to a wheelchair.

December 13, 2005 - San Quentin Prison is now preparing for the execution of its next death row inmate, Fresno's Clarence Ray Allen. Allen was convicted of arranging a triple murder at a Fresno County market. In 1980, three young people were shot to death in the market by a hired hit man as part of an effort to cover a past crime. Now, after a quarter of a century, preparations are underway for his execution. He is 75 years old, has suffered a stroke and has heart problems, but he is still scheduled to be put to death...