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On January 17, at the San Quentin State Prison, the State of California executedClarence Ray Allen. Allen had been convicted of a 1982 triple homicide; he had ordered the killings while already serving a prison term for another homicide. Allen had recently sought clemency from Governor Schwarzenegger on the ground that he had become old and infirm, but the Governor denied his plea. Allen also sought a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court, which similarly denied his request. He argued that to execute an old and sick man such as himself would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, in...

"Arnie allows a blind man in a wheelchair to be executed," a headline in Germany's Bild, a popular tabloid declared. "Chalk up one more for the Terminator," Spain's TeleCinco announced. Overseas, but especially in Europe, where the death penalty has been abolished, and many observers view America's practice as barbaric, news media focused on California's execution on Monday of Clarence Ray Allen less than an hour after his 76th birthday. (Scotsman) "Among other things, Allen was nearly deaf, had diabetes and suffered a heart attack last September," one U.K. news outlet noted. Terry Davis, the chairman of the 46-nation Council...

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 oldest man to ever enter California's execution chamber met his doom Tuesday the way he'd wanted to: With the faint lilt of Native American chants ringing in the air around him, and loved ones mouthing "I love you" to him as his damaged vision slowly faded to black. A symbolic Indian feather lay on quadruple murderer Clarence Ray Allen's chest for the entire 33-minute execution, rising and falling until the lethal poisons piped into his veins through intravenous tubes stopped his breathing and he at last lay completely still. "Hoka Hey, (an Indian saying meaning) it's a good day...

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. Only about 300 people turned out to protest the execution of Clarence Ray Allen, some of whom were the 76-year-old inmate's relatives. 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 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...

San Quentin, Calif. (AP) -- In the end, California's oldest condemned inmate wasn't as feeble and frail as his attorneys portrayed him in their efforts to spare his life. With the help of four large correctional officers, Clarence Ray Allen shuffled from his wheelchair to a gurney inside San Quentin State Prison's death chamber early Tuesday morning, a day after his 76th birthday. Though legally blind, Allen raised his head to search among execution witnesses for relatives he had invited. "Hoka hey, it's a good day to die," Allen said in a nod to his Choctaw Indian heritage minutes before...

Ailing killer executed at age 76 Condemned for 3 slayings, Allen is oldest ever put to death in state 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...

San Francisco -- The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from a 76-year-old convicted killer who argued that he was too old and feeble to be executed. The ruling cleared the way for Clarence Ray Allen — legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair — to be executed by injection early Tuesday for a triple murder he ordered from behind bars to silence witnesses to another killing. Allen, whose birthday was Monday, 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...

SAN FRANCISCO - Attorneys for California's oldest condemned inmate are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to accept two unprecedented legal theories in a last-ditch bid to block his execution scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Clarence Ray Allen, who turned 76 on Monday, claims that because of his age and numerous health problems, a lethal injection would amount to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. Allen uses a wheelchair, and is legally blind and nearly deaf. His heart stopped in September, but doctors revived him to be returned to San Quentin State Prison's death row. He is also asking the novel question...

San Francisco -- Clarence Ray Allen moved a step closer to death late Sunday when a federal appeals court here dismissed one of his final appeals. Allen, who turns 76 on Monday, would become California's oldest condemned inmate executed on Tuesday morning following the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision dismissing one of his final legal options. Attorneys for Allen, on death row for ordering the hits of three people at a Fresno market in 1980, claimed executing him would be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual because of his age and health problems. The San Francisco-based appeals court ruled against...

FRESNO, Calif. - Dusk had just fallen on the night of Sept. 5, 1980, when Jack Abbott heard gunshots at the general store next door. He grabbed his shotgun and vaulted the wall separating their properties. "I could see them in there, someone with a gun in their hand. I could see somebody lying on the floor," Abbott recalled during a recent interview. Inside, he found the bodies of two clerks, Douglas Scott White, 18, and Josephine Rocha, 17. The owners' son, Bryon Schletewitz, 27, was dead in the stockroom. Abbott was shot in the back, but he still managed...

Clarence Ray Allen stands to be the first in a long procession of geriatric patients to be ushered into San Quentin State Prison's death chamber just ahead of the grim reaper. Allen, who is legally blind, sick and uses a wheelchair, will turn 76 on Monday, the day before he is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. He would be the oldest person ever put to death in California. Those on both sides of the debate over what should happen to Allen agree on one thing -- trundling a feeble old man from his sick bed to the death...

BEFORE YOU ASK, I'll answer your questions: Why not sentence convicted murderers to life without parole, so that they'll be locked up where they can't hurt anyone else? Clarence Ray Allen, who is scheduled for execution at San Quentin State Prison on Tuesday, is living proof that a convicted killer can snuff out the lives of innocent people from behind bars. In 1977, Allen began serving a life sentence for the murder of his son's 17-year-old girlfriend -- her punishment for confessing to a victim robbed by the Allen gang. Allen then concocted a scheme he thought would set him...

The "People of California" are in a morbid race with God to see who can kill Clarence Ray Allen first. With the date for his execution only a week away, God may still get there first. Just four months ago, on Sept. 2, the condemned man suffered a massive, near-fatal heart attack. "My heart stopped three times when those doctors at Marin General worked to save my life in September," he told me. This week, I had the opportunity to sit with the nearly blind, wheelchair-bound Allen in a small cage inside San Quentin, just a few yards from the...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency Friday to California's oldest condemned convict who asked to be spared because of his age and infirmities. Clarence Ray Allen, 75, who ordered the slayings of three people at a Fresno market while he was behind bars at Folsom State Prison in 1980, told Schwarzenegger that he was too old and frail to be put to death early Tuesday morning at San Quentin State Prison. "Allen's jury reasonably concluded that life in prison was not the appropriate punishment for someone who orders the killing of witnesses while already serving a term of...

Dusk had just fallen on the night of Sept. 5, 1980, when Jack Abbott heard gunshots at the general store next to his home. He grabbed his double-barreled shotgun and vaulted the concrete wall separating his backyard from Fran's Market, owned by his longtime friends, Raymond and Frances Schletewitz. "I could see them in there, someone with a gun in their hand. I could see somebody lying on the floor," Abbott recalled during a recent interview at his home. He fired a warning as a store clerk, 19-year-old Joseph Rios, sprinted past him, his arm shredded by a shotgun blast....

California's oldest death row inmate a 75-year-old who is legally blind and nearly deaf is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to do something it has never done before: block an execution because of the condemned man's advanced age and infirmity. Clarence Ray Allen's attorneys contend that executing a feeble old man amounts to cruel and unusual punishment banned by the U.S. Constitution. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday denied Allen clemency. Barring a last-minute reprieve by the courts, the governor's decision means Allen will become the second-oldest person put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume...

Calif. Governor Has No Mercy for Inmate By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago California's oldest death row inmate — a 75-year-old who is legally blind and nearly deaf — is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to do something it has never done before: block an execution because of the condemned man's advanced age and infirmity. Clarence Ray Allen's attorneys contend that executing a feeble old man amounts to cruel and unusual punishment banned by the U.S. Constitution. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday denied Allen clemency. Barring a last-minute reprieve by the courts, the governor's decision means Allen...

California's oldest death row inmate _ a 75-year-old who is legally blind and nearly deaf _ is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to do something it has never done before: block an execution because of the condemned man's advanced age and infirmity. Clarence Ray Allen's attorneys contend that executing a feeble old man amounts to cruel and unusual punishment banned by the U.S. Constitution. Allen is set to die by injection Tuesday for ordering three slayings while behind bars for another murder. He has been on death row for more than 23 years. Allen, who turns 76 on the eve...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California's oldest death row inmate - a 75-year-old who is legally blind and nearly deaf - is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to do something it has never done before: block an execution because of the condemned man's advanced age and infirmity. Clarence Ray Allen's attorneys contend that executing a feeble old man amounts to cruel and unusual punishment banned by the U.S. Constitution. Allen is set to die by injection Tuesday for ordering three slayings while behind bars for another murder. He has been on death row for more than 23 years. Allen, who turns...