Seventy-six-year-old Clarence Ray Allen was executed at California’s San Quentin prison early on Tuesday morning. He is the second oldest person to be executed in the United States since the reintroduction of capital punishment in 1976.
Allen, who had a heart attack in September, was legally blind and a diabetic. He was unable to walk unassisted and had to be helped into the execution chamber by four wardens.
He was declared dead by lethal injection at 12.38am.
In 1982 Allen was convicted of ordering the killings in 1980 of Bryon Schletewitz (27) Josephine Rocha (17) and Douglas White (18). Prosecutors alleged that Allen had ordered the killings while serving a life sentence for ordering the murder of an accomplice in a 1974 robbery.
The Native American’s appeal for clemency was rejected by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday. His final appeal, based on the argument that his execution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, was rejected by the US Supreme Court on Monday.
Although the court rejected the appeal, there was a dissenting opinion from Justice Stephen Breyer, a Clinton nominee to the highest court in the US.
”I believe that in the circumstances he raises a significant question as to whether his execution would constitute ‘cruel and unusual punishment’,” he wrote.
But another appeals court judge ruled on Sunday that the appeal should be denied. ”Nothing about his current ailments reduces his culpability,” wrote Kim Wardlaw, a Clinton appointee to the 9th circuit court of appeals.
After the execution, deputy attorney general Ward Campbell, who prosecuted Allen and witnessed his execution, said he had ”fulfilled the commitment” he had made.
Allen’s execution was the first in California since the execution of Stanley ”Tookie” Williams last month attracted international attention to the issue.
California, which has the largest number of people on death row in the US, is expected to execute four more prisoners this year. Some may be elderly, with five currently aged over 70 and 34 in their 60s. – Guardian Unlimited Â