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Do Not Execute Clarence Ray Allen!
Clarence Ray Allen
Jan. 17, 2006
California
Clarence Ray Allen, a Choctaw Indian, faces execution in California on Jan. 17, 2006 for three counts of murder and conspiracy in Fresno County.Allen is said to have masterminded a number of robberies and murders in Fresno County, including the murders of potential witnesses against him while he was in prison.
Reviewing Allen’s case, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2005 found that Allen’s trial counsel had been inadequate.Allen’s sentence was not reversed and no retrial was called for because the court also believed that the evidence in the case was overwhelming.Unfortunately the supposedly overwhelming evidence mostly consisted of the testimony of Allen’s several accomplices.Allen’s accomplices paint Allen as the mastermind who forced them by threats and scare tactics to commit robberies and murders.Considering the admittedly inadequate representation that Allen received at trial and the sources of much of the evidence against him, clearly the appropriateness of Allen’s sentence is questionable.
Furthermore, in a dissenting opinion, California Supreme Court Justice Broussard discusses the unconstitutional instruction of Allen’s trial jury.According to Broussard’s dissent, language used, particularly by the prosecution, to instruct the jury may have led them to believe that they had no option but to return a death sentence at the penalty phase of Allen’s trial.The prosecutor told the jury that “if you conclude that aggravating evidence outweighs the mitigating evidence, you shall return a death sentence.”According to previous court opinions the law does not require a death sentence in such a situation.Instead the jury is always expected to make a normative decision.According to Broussard “[s]hall, not may, not might, not maybe...is very explicit... [t]here is nothing equivocal in this language, and no freedom for the jury to make [a] normative decision.”Clearly the jury instruction in Allen’s penalty phase may have prejudiced his sentence.
Allen’s execution date is the day after his 76th birthday.75-year-old Allen uses a wheelchair to get around.His advance case of diabetes has left him blind.Also, Allen suffered a heart attack on Sept. 2.
Considering his age and health in addition to his inadequate trial representation and prejudiced jury, it is unacceptable for Clarence Ray Allen to be executed.
