Calif. Governor Has No Mercy for Inmate

[tocqueville]

By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 13, 6:32 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - 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 in 1976.

He is set to die by injection Tuesday for ordering three slayings while behind bars for another murder

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060113/ap_on_re_us/california_execution_7

hope it's not a dupe

[MercutioATC]

1. Neither do I.

The whole death penalty debate aside (and I'm not sure exactly where I stand on that issue) this man does NOT deserve special treatment because he's old. He arranged the murders of four people - one of them his sister.

[pretzel4gore]

3. oh go away...

all us killers will spend 10 billion years in hell, killing to our hearts' desire.....who are we to judge anyone; and this goes especially for someone like arnie shwartshog, a fukking pinup pervert at best....
the goddam bureaucrats kill in weeks more then any private actor in all of history: if anyone needs the dp it's the bureaucrats from oven states like the USA

[MercutioATC]

5. Yeah, I know. We've discussed this before...

Like I said, I'm not sold on the death penalty, but THIS man deserves what he gets (kinda like Tookie).

[pretzel4gore]

8. still, the state hasn't got a shred of authority

having murdered untold millions, and getting away with much of it ...if the guy needs killing, let the family kill him, and face the music proper like.....if they don't wanna do it, or pay someone to do it,and pay ceasar his price, then that's that. the state can keep the old guy in jail as long as law allows, but the state has no authority to murder, having abused their authority enough to fill volumes, and forver erased whatever justification it claimed. that is the issue. the state has no legal right to murder anyone (and any killing by bureacratic arrangement is murder, plain murder) hitler et al at least proved that one thing- the state is a murdering punk, if allowed any power over life/death

[tocqueville]

4. justice is not about retaliation

it doesn't matter if they were four and one of them his sister. If he killed ONE perfect stranger, it's bad enough.

reasoning the more horrendous the crime is, the harsher punishment must be when it comes to a corporal punishment like the death penalty leads to public torture as a logic consequence...

[MercutioATC]

6. I'm not willing to take it that far, but I agree in a way

One innocent life taken is enough. He deserves no special consideration simple because of his advanced age.

[f-bush]

10. Thank you, I totally agree!

[GrumpyGreg]

2. Just one more reason to abolish the death penalty.

[MrSlayer]

7. If he wanted to be cruel he could let him live.

At this point the execution is a mercy.

[f-bush]

9. We should have no mercy for Arnold

Smug, lying, perverted Nazi bastard that he is.

[Nutmegger]

11. So what else in Graz has Arnie's name on it?

There must be something else they could take down...:shrug:

[REP]

12. The DP Is Either Just or Unjust; Age and Children's Books Shouldn't Matter

I support the Dp in theory, but am supporting it less and less in practice - not because of the saintliness of children's book authors (who by the way committed murder) or infirmity of old men (killed and had others killed) - but because it's *this* government carrying it out. It's like requiring licenses to have children; it sounds like a good idea until you realize it's our government that'd be making the decisions (think FEMA ... yikes). I do think there are some people who commit acts that warrants their death, but I no longer trust our government to make those decisions. Warehousing them forever - if they were really warehoused forever - would be an acceptable substitute.

[AtomicKitten]

13. No Mercy -- A sad reflection of the state of our country.

The United States is the ONLY western country still practicing the death penalty. Shameful.