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Cecil Clayton, 74, of southwest Missouri, is scheduled to die
by lethal injection after 6 p.m. CDT at a Missouri state prison.
He would be the second inmate executed in Missouri this year and
the 10th in the country.
Police were called in November 1996 on a complaint that Clayton,
who had been arguing with his girlfriend, was trespassing. He
shot Barry County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Castetter in the
head while the officer was in his patrol car.
Clayton's attorneys have argued that his intelligence dropped
precipitously after a piece of wood was driven into his skull
during a sawmill accident in 1972. Surgery was required,
resulting in the loss of part of his frontal lobe.
He also suffers from hallucinations and delusions due to the
injury, his attorneys said in court papers.
At trial, Clayton's attorneys argued that the accident left him
incapable of deliberating or forming the intent necessary for a
finding of first-degree murder.
Clayton now does not believe he will be executed, but thinks God
will set him free so he can travel the country preaching and
singing the gospel, his attorneys said.
The Missouri Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, found Clayton was
not intellectually disabled under state law, and denied his
petition for a competency hearing.
Clayton's lawyers have appeals pending before the U.S. Supreme
Court, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. District
Court, seeking to stay his execution.
"I certainly think we have some strong reasons why the court
ought to at least take another look at this case before Cecil
dies," said Elizabeth Carlyle, an attorney for Clayton.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Mohammad
Zargham)
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