Old Death Row Inmate Loses Appeal

Clarence Ray Allen, California's oldest condemned inmate, moved a step closer to his Tuesday execution date when a federal appeals court dismissed one of his final appeals.

Allen, who turns 76 on Monday, had argued that executing him would be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual of his age and poor health.

Allen is part of a

Allen is legally blind, nearly deaf, suffered a heart attack in September and uses a wheelchair.

Ruling against his appeal late Sunday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said he had "not demonstrated substantial grounds upon which relief may be granted."

Allen was sentenced to death for ordering the hits of three people at a Fresno market in 1980.

He is also asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block the execution under the same legal theory. Allen is scheduled to be injected at 12:01 a.m. (0501 GMT) Tuesday at San Quentin State Prison.

State prosecutors argued that the U.S. Supreme Court has never granted a reprieve to a condemned man because of his age or infirmities. The average age of the nation's condemned prisoners is 41, and the average stay on death row is a decade, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The California Supreme Court rejected that same claim by Allen on Tuesday. Attorneys for Allen declined to comment Sunday on the appeals court decision.

While serving time for murder at Folsom State Prison in 1980, Allen was sentenced to death for hiring hit man Billy Ray Hamilton, who killed Bryon Schletewitz, Douglas Scott White and Josephine Rocha at Fran's Market. Allen had the trio killed because he feared their testimony would hurt his chances of prevailing at overturning his murder conviction on appeal, prosecutors said.

Hamilton also is on death row.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declined to grant clemency and commute Allen's death sentence to life without parole.