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March 18, 2015

Missouri Executes Mentally Ill Death Row Prisoner 
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Missouri has executed a mentally ill and disabled prisoner by lethal
injection. Cecil Clayton was missing one-fifth of his frontal lobe as a
result of a work accident. Years after the injury, he was arrested for
killing a police officer and sentenced to death despite his apparent
confusion over the crime. Psychologists concluded Clayton's execution
would violate the Constitution's ban on executing the insane or
intellectually disabled. But the Missouri Supreme Court refused six
times to hear the case, and a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court failed.

 

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