California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency today for 76 year old Clarence Ray Allen who at 76, is blind, wheelchair bound, suffering from severe diabetes and heart disease. Unless the federal courts or Supreme Court intervene, he will be executed on January 17.

"The spectacle of Mr. Allen being wheeled into the death chamber, unable to walk and unable to see those who have come to witness his execution, violates all standards of decency and would amount to nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering prohibited by the Eighth Amendment," said Annette Carnegie, one of Allen's attorneys.

....California's death row houses five men older than 70; 34 are ages 60 to 69. Viva Leroy Nash, 90, of Arizona is the nation's oldest death row inmate. No execution date has been set.

TalkLeft background is here.