Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, "Jay Nixon commutes Richard Clay's death sentence to life in prison." It's written by Rebecca Berg.
Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday halted the planned execution of convicted murderer Richard Clay, ordering him instead to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
Clay, 45, was scheduled to die just after midnight Wednesday for the 1994 for-hire murder of Randy Martindale in Missouri's Bootheel.
The governor did not explain his surprise decision. In a brief statement, Nixon said that Clay's "involvement in this crime is clear" and "the evidence clearly supports the jury's verdict of murder in the first degree."
"Having looked at this matter in its entirety and after significant thought and counsel, I have concluded, however, to exercise my constitutional authority and commute Richard Clay's sentence to life without the possibility of parole," Nixon said.
Clay's attorney, Jennifer Herndon, said she was pleased that the governor made his decision with more than a day remaining until the scheduled execution.
"What we desperately needed was more time," Herndon said. "We wanted to stop the execution, so we got what we wanted from Gov. Nixon."
After the state Supreme Court ruled last week against a stay of execution for Clay, an intervention by the governor was Clay's only remaining option. In commuting the sentence, Nixon elected not to order a new inquiry into the case.
Nixon was the state's attorney general when Clay was tried and convicted. One of the lawyers prosecuting Clay was Kenny Hulshof, whom Nixon appointed to help with the case.
Nixon's decision caught some by surprise. A strong death penalty supporter, Nixon was the attorney general for 16 years. He was known for passionately stressing the victim's side. Often, he ran for re-election with television ads showing prison doors clanging shut.
The governor's office declined to elaborate on his decision Monday. "The statement will have to be the extent of comment," said spokesman Scott Holste.
And:
Clay's defense has pointed to Hulshof's involvement in the trial as one reason the conviction might be suspect. Other cases tried by Hulshof have been overturned on appeal, and Hulshof was found to have withheld evidence in the case of Joshua Kezer, who served 16 years in prison before being found innocent and freed.
Hulshof, a Republican, was defeated by Nixon, a Democrat, in the 2008 gubernatorial election.
Clay's legal team hoped that questions about Hulshof, coupled with possible new evidence in the case, would at least delay Clay's execution and allow for more time to appeal the ruling.
Through a spokesman, Hulshof declined to comment Monday.
"Nixon commutes death sentence of convicted murderer to life in prison," by Jason Noble and Tony Rizzo is the Kansas City Star report.
Mel Carnahan was the last governor to commute a death sentence in Missouri. That came in 1999.
Clay got the news in a phone call from his attorney, Jennifer Herndon, who said he was “obviously relieved.”
“It’s a fabulous step in the right direction,” said Herndon, who added that she remains convinced that Clay is innocent.
Herndon said that she will continue to work to have Clay cleared.
“It’s not over,” she said. “It’s the first step.”
A jury in Callaway County found Clay guilty in the 1994 killing of Randy Martindale. Clay was sentenced to death in 1995.
Martindale’s estranged wife, Stacy Martindale, and a man she was having an affair with at the time, Charles Sanders, also were charged in the murder-for-hire plot.
Stacy Martindale was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Sanders, who testified against Clay, got probation.
The AP report, "Mo. gov. spares man whose execution was imminent," by Jim Salter, is via the Washington Post.
It wasn't clear if Nixon's decision had anything to do with allegations last week by the American Civil Liberties Union that Missouri cut corners on execution rehearsals because of a national shortage of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used in most executions. The ACLU said Missouri didn't use sodium thiopental in an October rehearsal aimed at determining if staffers understood how to properly administer the drugs - possibly to stretch a dwindling supply. Corrections officials said the state was adequately prepared for the execution.
Clay's attorney, Jennifer Herndon, said she and Clay were elated by Nixon's decision, but will continue to seek a new trial.
"I've always believed he is innocent and will continue to fight," Herndon said. "This is only the first step."
In a Monday interview before Nixon announced his decision, Clay told The Associated Press he was not optimistic the governor would halt the execution because Nixon was attorney general at the time of his trial and one of Nixon's assistants, Kenny Hulshof, aided in the prosecution.
And:
During Nixon's 16 years as attorney general, his office defended Missouri's death penalty in numerous appeals to the state Supreme Court. It also provided assistant attorney generals to aid local prosecutors pursuing the death sentence in murders.
After Nixon won election as governor in November 2008, a coalition of death penalty critics called for a moratorium on executions so Missouri's death penalty system could be studied. A Nixon spokesman said at the time that Nixon backed the use of the death penalty and that families of victims deserved closure and justice without lengthy delays in death sentences.
Commutation requests are common but rarely granted. The previous one in Missouri drew worldwide attention.
In 1999, then-Gov. Mel Carnahan heeded the request of Pope John Paul II during the pontiff's visit to St. Louis and spared the life of Darrell Mease hours before the scheduled execution. Carnahan, a Baptist, cited "the extraordinary circumstances of the pope's request."
Related posts are in the clemency index.
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