Next on California's death row: an inmate who's over 70

Next on California's death row: an inmate who's over 70
By Henry Weinstein

Los Angeles Times

While Californians debate whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should grant clemency to convicted murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a legal battle has just gotten under way over the fate of the next man set for execution in California — Clarence Ray Allen, who has a Jan. 17 date to die.

Allen, who will turn 76 on Jan. 16, was condemned to death for commissioning the murders of three people while he was behind bars. Legally blind and confined to a wheelchair, Allen would be the oldest and most infirm inmate to be executed in the state since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978. His clemency campaign is expected to focus on his age and ill health.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002678321_webdeathrow11.html

it would certainly seem this guy would have an uphill battle convincing that he should receive leniency, at the end of his life, while those who murdered as young adolescents, and the mentally ill are sent on to their deaths...:shrug:

in my name.

How tragic!

or maybe a hit man is a better term. He did murder his fellow inmates.....I would support life with out parole at this phase.

That's what happens if a death sentence is commuted.

That's what I believe our stiffest penalty should be.

These inmates, if truly guilty, have done unconscionable things.

I do not want further killing done in my name, however, particularly under these circumstances.

I'm anti-death-penalty; life without parole is the most difficult consequence anyway.

i cannot think of a worse punishment than life in prison. death is preferable.

The ultimate state-sponsored "Whack-a-Mole!"

Some people need to be locked up in super max facilities, 23 hour a day isolation and no other human contact. If this guy was in that kind of facility and still managed to arrange murders, then this is the rare case that I would support the death penalty. Society does have the right to use any means to protect itself.

I didn't know being old, sick and blind exempted one from accountability for committing murderous crimes. Well, I guess we learn something new everyday!

has my admiration as a true opponent of the death penalty. This is one of the more loathsome individuals on the face of the earth. The world would definitely be better off if he were no longer in it. On the other hand he is 77, and in failing health so he won't last much longer anyway.

Would a DNR have helped things along? Is that admissible on death row?

I just don't want the state killing in my name.

Like I said, if he has been placed in the most super max type of detention and still managed to arrange murders, then he needs to go. Otherwise, killing him makes me as vile as he is. And I do not want to be anywhere near the same moral plane as this son of a bitch. He really is a rotten bastard.

Mississippi is set to execute a 77-year-old man next week, and Arizona has an 89-year-old on death row.

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Now go away.