Entries tagged with “Cecil Clayton”
Issues
New Voices
,Nov 03, 2015
Missouri Scheduled to Execute Man Despite Evidence of Intellectual Disability
Ernest Johnson (pictured) is scheduled to be executed in Missouri on November 3, despite strong evidence that he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. Johnson has shown signs of intellectual disability throughout his life: he walked and talked much later than his siblings, he was twice held back a grade in school, academic test scores placed him in the bottom 1 – 2% in math and reading, and his siblings say he struggled with basic skills like using a knife and fork.
Issues
Mar 26, 2015
States Struggle with Determinations of Competency to Be Executed
A recent article in Mother Jones examines lingering questions in the determination of which inmates are exempt from execution because of mental incompetency. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ford v. Wainwright that a person could not be executed if he or she was “unaware of the punishment they’re about to suffer and why they are to suffer it.” The 2007 ruling in Panetti v. Quarterman updated that decision, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing, “A prisoner’s awareness of the State’s…
Issues
Mar 11, 2015
UPCOMING EXECUTIONS: Elderly Man With Low IQ and Brain Damage Facing Imminent Execution
UPDATE: An image of Cecil Clayton’s brain obtained via MRI can be viewed here. The image shows the front left part of his brain is physically missing. Cecil Clayton is 74, suffers from dementia, has an IQ of 71, is missing a significant part of his brain due to an accident, and is scheduled for execution on March 17 in Missouri. His attorneys insist he should be spared because he does not understand the punishment to be carried out. Clayton sustained a brain injury in a sawmill accident in…