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 1972, requir­ing removal of about 20% of his frontal lobe, which is involved in impulse con­trol, prob­lem solv­ing, and social behav­ior. After the acci­dent, Clayton began expe­ri­enc­ing vio­lent impuls­es, schiz­o­phre­nia, and extreme para­noia, which became so severe that he checked him­self into a men­tal hos­pi­tal out of fear he could not con­trol his temper. 

In 1983, Dr. Douglas Stevens, a psy­chi­a­trist, exam­ined Clayton and con­clud­ed, ​“There is present­ly no way that this man could be expect­ed to func­tion in the world of work. Were he pushed to do so he would become a dan­ger both to him­self and to oth­ers. He has had both sui­ci­dal and homi­ci­dal impuls­es, so far con­trolled, though under pres­sure they would be expect­ed to exacerbate.” 

In the past decade, six psy­chi­atric eval­u­a­tions have found that Clayton should be exempt from exe­cu­tion because he does not under­stand that he will be exe­cut­ed, or the rea­sons for his exe­cu­tion. However, since his exe­cu­tion date has been set, he has not had a com­pe­ten­cy hear­ing before a judge that could spare him from execution.