Free Republic

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...

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...