On
this date, January 17, 2006, Clarence Ray Allen was executed by lethal
injection in California. As of today, he is the last person to be put to death
by the State of California. I will post full information about him from
Wikipedia and show some links before giving my comments.
 |
| Clarence Ray Allen |
Born
|
January 16,
1930
Blair, Oklahoma, United States |
Died
|
January 17,
2006 (aged 76)
San Quentin State Prison, California, United States |
Conviction(s)
|
Burglary,
Murder – 1978
Murder (3 counts) – 1980 |
Penalty
|
Life
imprisonment
Execution by lethal injection |
Conviction
status
|
Executed on
Jan. 17, 2006
|
Clarence Ray Allen (January 16, 1930 – January 17, 2006) was an American
murderer who was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in
California for the murders of three people. At age 76 in 2006, he became the
second-oldest inmate to be executed in the United States since 1976, after John
B. Nixon of Mississippi who was executed in December 2005 at age 77. His
execution was the most recent one to take place in California.
Pro-death
penalty activists cite Allen's actions as a reason to support capital
punishment in the United States. He was already serving a life sentence for one
murder when he was convicted of organizing the killing of three more people.
While
in prison, Allen claimed Choctaw heritage. He also claimed to be deaf, blind
and severely disabled, requiring a wheelchair for mobility. He did not know any
sign language to communicate with hearing people. During his execution, he was
able to walk from his wheelchair to the death podium unassisted. In addition,
he appeared to be looking straight at his family prior to receiving the first
dose of drugs during his lethal injection procedure. Allen had a confirmed
advanced case of type 2 diabetes, and he suffered a perhaps related heart
attack on September 2, 2005. His lawyers declared that "he presents
absolutely no danger at this point, as incapacitated as he is. There's no
legitimate state purpose served by executing him. It would be gratuitous
punishment." They argued that his execution would constitute cruel and
unusual punishment and requested that he be granted clemency by California
governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was subsequently refused.
 |
|
Mary
Sue Kitts
|
Murder
of Mary Sue Kitts
In
1974, Allen plotted the burglary of Fran’s Market, a Fresno area supermarket,
owned by Ray and Fran Schletewitz, whom Allen had known for years. The plot
involved Roger Allen, Clarence Ray Allen’s son, Carl Mayfield, Ed Savala and Charles
Jones. Mayfield and Jones worked for Clarence Ray Allen in his security guard
business as well as part of a burglary enterprise allegedly operated by Allen.
As part of the burglary plot against Fran’s Market, he arranged for someone to
steal a set of door and alarm keys from the market owner's son, Bryon
Schletewitz, age 19, while Schletewitz was swimming in Allen's pool. Allen then
arranged a date between Schletewitz and Mary Sue Kitts (his son Roger’s
girlfriend) for the evening, during which time the burglary took place. The
burglary netted $500 in cash and $10,000 in money orders from the store's safe.
Following the commission of the burglary, Kitts told Bryon Schletewitz that
Allen had committed the crime, which she knew as she had helped Allen cash
money orders that had been stolen from the store.
Schletewitz
confronted Roger Allen, informing him that he had been told of the crime by
Kitts, and Roger Allen admitted the crime. When Roger Allen told his father
Clarence of Bryon’s accusation, Clarence Allen stated that they (Schletewitz
and Kitts) would have to be “dealt with.” He enlisted three employees of his
security firm, Charles Jones, Carl Mayfield, and Lee Furrow. According to an
opinion filed on May 6, 2004 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:
Allen called a meeting at his house and told Jones, Mayfield, and Furrow that Kitts had been talking too much and should be killed. Allen called for a vote on the issue of Kitts’s execution. The vote was unanimous because those present feared what would happen if they did not go along with Allen's plan. Allen had previously told his criminal accomplices that he would kill snitches and that he had friends and connections to do the job for him even if he were in prison. He had also referred to himself as a Mafia hitman and stated that the “secret witness program” was useless because a good lawyer could always discover an informant's name and address. Allen kept a newspaper article about the murder of a man and woman in Nevada, and claimed he had “blown them in half” with a shotgun.
Allen
then ordered the murder of Kitts by Lee Furrow. After an unsuccessful attempt
to poison her with cyanide capsules, Allen called Furrow to learn if he had
killed Kitts. Furrow told Allen he was in the process of strangling her and
Allen replied, “do it.” After killing Kitts, Furrow threw her body into the
Friant-Kern Canal. The body has never been found.
 |
|
Bryon
Schletewitz
|
 |
|
Josephine Linda Rocha
|
 |
|
Douglas
Scott White
|
Execution
at Fran's Market
While
in Folsom Prison, Allen conspired with fellow inmate Billy Ray Hamilton to
murder the various witnesses who had testified against him, including Bryon
Schletewitz. Allen intended to obtain a new trial, where there would be no
witnesses to testify to his acts.
After
Hamilton was paroled from Folsom Prison, he carried out Allen’s orders. On
Sept. 5, 1980, Hamilton and his girlfriend, Connie Barbo, went to Fran’s
Market, east of Fresno, California. Bryon Schletewitz, the son of the market’s
owner, worked at the market. There, Hamilton murdered Schletewitz and fellow
employees Josephine Rocha, 17, and Douglas White, 18, with a sawed-off shotgun
and wounded two other people, Joe Rios and Jack Abbott. Hamilton shot
Schletewitz at near point-blank range in the forehead and then killed Rocha and
White after forcing them to lie on the floor of the store. Rios, also an
employee of the market, was shot as well but raised his arm as Hamilton fired
on him and this action undoubtedly saved his life. The other wounded survivor,
Abbott, was a neighbor who heard the shotgun blasts, came to the market to investigate,
and was also shot by Hamilton. Abbott returned fire and wounded Hamilton, who
escaped from the scene.
Five
days after the events at Fran’s Market, Hamilton was arrested while attempting
to rob a liquor store. On his person was found a “hit list” with the names and
addresses of the witnesses who testified against Allen at the Kitts trial,
including the name of Schletewitz.
 |
|
Billy
Ray Hamilton
|
Billy Ray Hamilton
Billy Ray Hamilton (a.k.a. "Country") (died October 22, 2007) was
an American convicted murderer who conspired with Clarence Ray Allen to murder
eight witnesses to a crime committed by Allen in 1974. Hamilton met Allen in
Folsom Prison in 1979. Allen befriended Hamilton and allegedly offered to pay
him $25,000 to carry out the murders. At Folsom Prison, Allen used to refer to
Hamilton as his "good dog", though at the time of Allen's trial, he
claimed to only have met Hamilton three or four times.
After Hamilton
was paroled from Folsom Prison, Kenneth Allen, one of Allen's sons supplied
Hamilton with $100. Hamilton and his girlfriend Connie Barbo went to Fran’s
Market in Fresno, California where one of the witnesses, Bryon Schletewitz
worked. On September 5, 1980, Hamilton murdered Schletewitz and fellow
employees Josephine Rocha, 17, and Douglas White, 18, with a sawn-off shotgun
and wounded two other people, Joe Rios and Jack Abbott. Hamilton shot
Schletewitz at near point-blank range in the forehead and murdered Rocha and
White after forcing them to lay on the ground within the store. A neighbor,
Jack Abbott, who heard the shotgun blasts came to investigate and was shot by
Hamilton. Abbott returned fire and wounded Hamilton, who escaped from the
scene.
Five days after
the events at Fran's Market, Hamilton was arrested shortly after robbing a
liquor store in Modesto, California. Hamilton carried a list with the names and
addresses of the witnesses who testified against Allen at the Kitts trial,
including the name of Schletewitz. Hamilton was tried in Contra Costa County,
California. The jury convicted Hamilton of three counts of murder, one count of
attempted robbery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. As special
circumstances making Hamilton eligible for the death penalty, the jury found
that Hamilton had committed murder-robbery, and multiple murders predicated on
the killing of other victims. The jury returned a unanimous verdict of death,
and the Contra Costa County Superior Court sentenced Hamilton on March 2, 1981.
Hamilton was on
death row at the San Quentin State Prison in California where he died of
natural causes on October 22, 2007 at the age of 57.
Legal
proceedings
In
1980, the California Attorney General filed charges against Allen and
prosecuted the trial in Glenn County, California, due to a change of venue. The
trial lasted 23 days, and 58 witnesses were called to testify. Ultimately, the
jury convicted Allen of triple murder and conspiracy to murder eight witnesses.
As
special circumstances making Allen eligible for the death penalty, the jury
also found that Allen had previously been convicted of murder, had committed
multiple murder, and had murdered witnesses in retaliation for their prior
testimony and to prevent future testimony. During a seven-day penalty phase,
the Attorney General introduced evidence of Allen’s career orchestrating
violent robberies in the Central Valley, including ten violent crimes and six
prior felony convictions. The jury returned a unanimous verdict of death, and
the Glenn County Superior Court sentenced Allen on November 22, 1980.
In
1987, the California Supreme Court affirmed Allen’s death sentence. Associate
Justice Joseph Grodin’s opinion referred to Allen’s crimes as “sordid events”
with an “extraordinarily massive amount” of aggravating evidence. In a
dissenting opinion, California Supreme Court Justice Broussard stated that the
prosecutor influenced the jury by telling them that "if you conclude that
aggravating evidence outweighs the mitigating evidence, you shall return a
death sentence," while the law does not mandate a death sentence in such a
situation. According to Justice Broussard, this led to a lack of freedom for
the jury to make a "normative decision."
In
2005, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Allen’s trial counsel
had been inadequate, and the evidence against him was largely the testimony of
Allen’s several accomplices, who painted him as the mastermind who forced them
by threats and scare tactics to commit robberies and murders. However the court
denied rehearing in Allen’s case. In her opinion for the panel, Judge Kim
McLane Wardlaw concluded:
Evidence of Allen's guilt is overwhelming. Given the nature of his crimes, sentencing him to another life term would achieve none of the traditional purposes underlying punishment. Allen continues to pose a threat to society, indeed to those very persons who testified against him in the Fran's Market triple-murder trial here at issue, and has proven that he is beyond rehabilitation. He has shown himself more than capable of arranging murders from behind bars. If the death penalty is to serve any purpose at all, it is to prevent the very sort of murderous conduct for which Allen was convicted.
Deputy
California Attorney General Ward Campbell stated in an interview:
Well, Mr. Allen has cited his age, the length of time on death row, claims about innocence, errors at his trial. We found and told the governor we found all those reasons to be unpersuasive given the nature of his crime, which was in fact a direct attack on the criminal justice system perpetrated by a man for whom society thought — for whom society thought was safe. They thought they were safe from him because he was behind bars and yet he continued to perpetrate these types of crimes and none of the factors that they cite now overshadow or outbalance those reasons for now executing the judgment of the people of the State of California.
On
January 13, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to grant
Allen clemency, stating that "his conduct did not result from youth or
inexperience, but instead resulted from the hardened and calculating decisions
of a mature man." Schwarzenegger also cited a poem in which Allen
glorified his actions, where Allen wrote, "We rob and steal and for those
who squeal are usually found dying or dead."
On
January 15, 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Allen's claim that
executing an aged or infirm person was cruel and unusual punishment, observing
that his mental acuity was unimpaired and that he had been fifty years of age
when he arranged the murders from prison. Judge Kim Wardlaw writing for the
panel of judges Susan Graber, Richard Clifton, and herself:
His age and experience only sharpened his ability to coldly calculate the execution of the crime. Nothing about his current ailments reduces his culpability and thus they do not lessen the retributive or deterrent purposes of the death penalty.
The
United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case, albeit over the dissent
of Justice Stephen Breyer, who stated: "I believe that in the
circumstances he raises a significant question as to whether his execution
would constitute 'cruel and unusual punishment.'"
Execution
Allen
was executed by lethal injection on January 17, 2006, at California's San
Quentin State Prison. He became the second-oldest inmate to be executed in the
United States since 1976 (John B. Nixon of Mississippi was executed in 2005 at
age 77). Allen was assisted in the death chamber by four correctional officers,
though a media observer stated that he was clearly moving under his own power.
To the surprise of everyone present, the warden indicated that he needed an
additional injection of the lethal potassium in order to stop his surprisingly
healthy heart. Allen wrote in his final statement, which was read immediately
following the execution, "My last words will be 'It's a good day to die.
Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye.'"
Allen
died with an eagle feather on his chest. He was wearing a medicine bag around
his neck, and a beaded headband. He was visited shortly before the execution by
two Native American spiritual advisers.
Allen
died at 12:38 a.m. Approximately 250 death penalty opponents gathered for a
candlelight vigil outside the walls of San Quentin. His last meal consisted of
Buffalo steak and fry bread (both are traditional Native American dishes) as
well as a bucket of KFC white-meat-only chicken, sugar-free pecan pie,
sugar-free walnut ice cream, and whole milk. The ice-cream was left out to thaw
for one hour, which Allen turned into a milkshake by hand.
Prison
guards familiar with Clarence Ray Allen stated that he often walked without
assistance and was also able to read his mail.
Links:
7.
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/article/the-life-and-crimes-of-clarence-ray-allen/index.html
MY
THOUGHTS:
The
more I read this case, the more I began to support the death penalty even more.
Allen had murdered one person and had succeeded in arranging 3 murders from
behind bars. Four innocent lives lost! Thank God he is been dispatched from
society for good, he will not be ordering any more murders.
To
those abolitionists in California, I want to state that as a former abolitionist
myself, I realized that I had been fooled by the criminal rights in that state.
Excuses! Excuses! Nothing but lame excuses! I do not agree that because of his
old age, he should live. I saw the abolitionist crying and light candles to
mourn this evil man, I rather you cry and mourn over the four innocent lives he
took.
Coincidentally,
Clarence Ray Allen was executed on the same date with Gary Gilmore, who was put
to death by firing squad in Utah 29 years before. Please hear from Patricia Pendergrass, the sister of Bryon Schletewitz and read this article by Former Californian Judge, James A. Ardaiz.
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