Aging California Inmate Set for Execution

[juliana24]

Jan 15, 9:46 PM EST

Aging California Inmate Set for Execution

By DON THOMPSON

Associated Press Writer


FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- 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 to shoot the fleeing intruder in the foot.

The killings at Fran's Market that night put two men on death row: a 32-year-old newly paroled convict named Billy Ray Hamilton, and Clarence Ray Allen, the man who ordered the attack from prison.

Barring a last-minute reprieve, Allen will become the oldest inmate put to death in California if he is executed as scheduled at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, just after his 76th birthday.

More:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CALIFORNIA_EXECUTION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[bliss_eternal]

1. Disgusting...

I hope musclehead's home country permanently disowns him. He will forever be a dark mark on the history of this state.

:puke:

[juliana24]

2. I agree. How could people there vote for him?

That idiot didnt know he had to have a motorcycle license to ride his Harley, thats how dumb Arnie is.

[saigon68]

17. Hre he is

They will have to lift him out of his wheelchair and strap him to the gurney

[LiberalInGeorgia2005]

4. Not going to disagree,

but the murders sound more disgusting than California executing this scum. I'm opposed to the death penalty in almost all curcumstances, by the way.

[bliss_eternal]

10. His murders were heinous--I agree.

But I still can't agree to kill him. Not my place to judge him for what he's done or who he is--he's being punished.

I can't put the death penalty back on the table, when I don't believe in it, just for people that do things I find reprehensible and depraved. I either believe in it or I don't.

[sam sarrha]

3. where is the scientific proof Death is a penalty, send them to Jesus? that

F'n Liberal will take him to heaven..!!!

[saigon68]

18. Here is the oldest amerikan Death Row prisoner age 90 Viva Leroy Nash

http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=876058649

Soon to become the subject of a 1-hour TV documentary special produced by TNC’s Christopher Berry-Dee, and the subject of a motion picture, LeRoy Nash is a living legend.

90: Age of Viva Leroy Nash of Arizona, the nation's oldest death row inmate

[pberq]

5. Sister Helen Prejean - on the death penalty

I heard a lecture by Sister Helen a few weeks ago, and am now strongly against the death penalty in all cases.

People might remember the movie "Dead Man Walking", starring Susan Sarandan - which is based on the book by Sister Helen.

Her latest book, "The Death of Innocents" provides a powerful case against the death penalty, especially in the way it is administered in this country.

See http://www.prejean.org/ for more.

[superconnected]

6. updated news article

Calif. Inmate, 76, Faces Execution Tonight


SAN FRANCISCO - A 76-year-old convicted killer — legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair — tried to stave off execution early Tuesday by arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that it would be cruel and unusual punishment to put a feeble old man to death.


Clarence Ray Allen, whose 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 raised two claims never before endorsed by the high court: that executing a frail old man would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and that the 23 years he spent on death row were unconstitutionally cruel as well.

He was condemned in 1982 for ordering a hit from prison that left three people dead.



more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060116/ap_on_re_us/california_execution_3;_ylt=ArdKHpK.Bo9o8O3nCNNBl28EcP8A;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[superconnected]

7. From the article ...

"Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed, writing that the inmate "could long ago have ended his anxieties and uncertainties by submitting to what the people of Florida have deemed him to deserve: execution."
.
.
.

Allen went to prison for having his teenage son's 17-year-old girlfriend murdered for fear she would tell police about a grocery-store burglary. While behind bars, he tried to have witnesses in the case wiped out, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to death in 1982 for hiring a hit man who killed a witness and two bystanders."

[warrens]

8. This one doesn't deserve pity

He was a vile right wing thug and murderer of teenagers. Save your energy for someone who might be innocent.

[bliss_eternal]

11. Is he not human?

Who are we as humans and mere mortals to determine who is more deserving of sympathy or pity?

[AnneD]

26. I'm with you...

It makes no difference his condition. He lived longer than he should have. I mean, he arranged a hit FROM PRISON. I won't be shedding any tears for him or for that man in Mass. that beat his stepdaughter to death with a bat. When it is clear cut-I don't have a problem with dispensing justice on Earth.

[lynne]

9. HUH??? This guy is responsible for the brutal murder of

two teens and one young adult and the maiming of another and you're wasting your pity on him?? What about the victims? Their families? The lives the victims never got to lead and the children they never had?

Given this guy's condition, it sounds to me like the state is doing him a big favor. The only shame is that they didn't do it earlier when he would have better appreciated the rest of the life he wasn't going to enjoy.

[bliss_eternal]

12. Why is pity wasted?

How can you or anyone say who is or is not deserving of pity? Is a life not about to perish?

Feeling disgust that CA is killing a man is not the same thing as not feeling sympathy for the victims or their families. Both feelings can exist simultaneously, one is not dependent upon the other...

If the man is not on life support, how is the state 'doing him a favor' to take his life? I'm sorry I mean no personal disrespect. I just don't agree.

[kaplan3602]

13. Considering the way our country is run (by Repugs) these days

I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that he was innocent after they execute him.

[TheBaldyMan]

14. shame he isn't a thanksgiving turkey

then he'd have a much higher chance of a reprieve.

[fortyfeetunder]

15. But check out this irony:

"Allen, who suffered a heart attack on Sept. 2, would be dead already without the efforts of the prison medical staff to save him."

Mother Nature tried to take him away before Ahnuld could. Guess Ahnuld wanted the fricking last word, or last shot!

[bliss_eternal]

16. Oh--how sad...

This is the first I've heard of him having a heart attack...

Wow...

[Judi Lynn]

19. Reminds you of the deep charity involved in the "insurgent" prisoners

who succumb to torture and are carefully restored to consciousness in order to be tortured again.

All the best Bible-thumping, pompous hypocrites who have been foaming at the mouth in anticipation of this state execution seem to always forget the passages in their Bible which cover events like this: " "Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord," and "Thou shalt not kill," etc., etc., etc.

Yeah, moral recommendations are always meant to be applied to someone else. The "Lord" supports them all in their rabid hatred for their fellow people.

I can only hope they awaken someday during their lifetimes, but it's doubtful. Until then, life on this planet revolves around them and their views. God forbid the State should be above vicious, childish, self-centered revenge.

[bliss_eternal]

20. After the last execution

this was exactly the way I saw some on DU posting--very 'eye of an eye' kind of stuff. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord didn't get much response from anyone.

[Karenina]

29. There's something really SICK

about reviving a man from a heart attack in order to execute him later. :freak:

[shawmut]

21. California Executes Oldest Inmate

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago


SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - California executed its oldest condemned inmate early Tuesday for arranging a triple murder 25 years ago to silence witnesses in another killing.

Clarence Ray Allen was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 12:38 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison, less than an hour after his 76th birthday ended at midnight.

He received the first of three injections at 12:20 a.m. He then was given an extra dose of potassium chloride, the lethal chemical that stops the heart, at 12:35 a.m., and died minutes later, according to Corrections Department spokeswoman Elaine Jennings.

Allen — who was legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair — was the second-oldest put to death nationally since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060117/ap_on_re_us/california_execution

[Scooter24]

22. I agree with Justice Breyer's dissent...

On one of the orders, Justice Stephen Breyer filed a dissent, saying: "Petitioner is 76 years old, blind, suffers from diabetes and is confined to a wheelchair, and has been on death row for 23 years. I believe that in the circumstances he raises a significant question as to whether his execution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. I would grant the application for stay."

[bliss_eternal]

23. Thanks for this Scooter24--

It's great to see someone speak in a humane way about the situation.

[nautibits]

27. R.I.P.

[DiverDave]

24. Its funny how people forget the innocents that died

They found the guy SHOT from a man he murdered.
The people that say to spare such animals have never went through the grief of losing a child to such monsters.
I will bet a years pay that if it were to happen to YOUR child, you would want them GONE.

Yeah, right...I hear you now "oh, no I would forgive" BULL.
If I saw someone standing over them with a smoking gun, you bet they should die.

[ronnykmarshall]

28. No shit.

I'm on fence with the death penalty ... more leaning towards being against it .... but I sure a hell don't feel any pity about this monster.

[mvd]

25. Yet another state-sanctioned murder

I guess Arnold is trying to act tough for re-election. I'm against the death penalty, both morally and because of our system (even with DNA testing, there's room for manipulation and error.) And even if you support the death penalty, this guy wasn't a threat anymore.