Cecil L. Clayton, 74 years old, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, sometime after 6 pm on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2015. Please sign the petition to commute the death sentence of this elderly, severely handicapped man. Due to a traumatic brain injury, the result of a sawmill accident in 1972, Clayton is unable to understand or reason. To execute a person such as Clayton is morally wrong, and violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment."
The killing of Deputy Christopher Castetter in 1996 is the crime for which Clayton is sentenced to die. Deputy Castetter's death was a horrific tragedy. The loss of this young father was a burden that his loved ones should never have had to bear, but executing this elderly, mentally incompetent person will do nothing towards healing their grief.
In signing this petition, we are in no way devaluing the life or the loss of Deputy Castetter, but we are signing this because we do not believe that a mentally disabled person, who can not comprehend the punishment should be put to death.
