Yes, he was convicted of first degree murder some 20 years ago. But no, both on general principles and in this specific circumstance, he shouldn't be executed. As Mother Jones reports
Cecil Clayton, 74, who had parts of his brain removed after an accident 40 years ago, is scheduled to be put to death on Tuesday. He was convicted of first-degree murder after killing a cop in 1996...
In 1972... a piece of wood... pierced his skull and entered his brain. Doctors eventually had to remove nearly one-fifth of his frontal lobe - the part of the brain that is crucial to decision making, mood, and impulse control. Clayton was completely transformed: His IQ dropped to 76, and he developed serious depression, hallucinations, confusion, paranoia, and thoughts of suicide...
Missouri law states that a person cannot be executed if, as a result of mental disease or defect, he or she is unable to "understand the nature and purpose of the punishment about to be imposed upon him." ...
What is the evidence that he cannot understand his impending execution? It spans decades...
Clayton was officially diagnosed with chronic brain syndrome in 1983, which includes psychosis, paranoia, depression, schizophrenia, and decreased mental function...
In 2008, Dr. William Logan, commissioned by the defense to examine Clayton... argued - unsuccessfully- that Clayton was unfit for execution:
While Mr. Clayton knows the State plans to execute him for killing Deputy Castetter, he believes his legal situation is instead a test of his faith and that God will not allow the punishment to occur as God has chosen him for another mission. Hence, he has no concept of a need for clemency, or capacity to understand matters in extenuation, arguments for executive clemency or rational reasons why the sentence should not be carried out.
By 2012, Clayton's mental state further declined because of his advancing age... "His dementia has worsened secondary to aging and to his long term cardiovascular disease. His insight and judgment are further impaired..."
As recently as February of this year, Clayton's cellmate said that Clayton was unable to operate the telephone on his own and could not understand how to order from the prison canteen...
Nonetheless, on St. Patrick's Day...
On February 6, the state set an execution date of March 17 for Clayton.
I tweeted the other day that
To the not guilty we can add in the tally of those who commit homicides but should not have been convicted of 1st degree murder because they were incapable of premeditation (as it seems perhaps this person might not have been, despite the jury verdict). Then, like Clayton, there are those who may have deliberately committed the crime but in the ten, twenty or thirty years it takes to carry out the execution sentence, no longer have the capacity to understand what is happening.
And let's not even discuss the costs of death row and our death penalty legal system.
At least 18 states do not have an enforceable death penalty statute and others, such as California, haven't executed anyone in a fairly long time.
153 countries have either abolished the death penalty or not used it in at least 10 years.
Let's not execute Mr. Clayton... or, into the future, anyone else.