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Schwarzenegger allows mental impaired execution Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7361154 http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7361154 Schwarzenegger Allows Rare California Execution Tue Jan 18, 2005 06:10 PM ET By Adam Tanner SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Citing "grisly and senseless killings," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declined on Tuesday to grant clemency to murderer Donald Beardslee, setting the stage for California's first execution in three years. As expected, Schwarzenegger said he would allow the execution of Beardslee, 61, to proceed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco at one minute after midnight (3:01 a.m. EST) on Wednesday morning. Beardslee's attorneys argue he was duped by accomplices and was suffering from mental illness aggravated by brain injuries when in 1981 he shot Stacey Benjamin, 19, and choked and slashed the throat of Patty Geddling, 23, in California. The Air Force veteran, who was out on parole at the time for a 1969 murder of a young woman in Missouri, confessed to both killings and was sentenced to death in 1984. "The state and federal courts have affirmed his conviction and death sentence, and nothing in his petition or the record of his case convinces me that he did not understand the gravity of his actions or that these heinous murders were wrong," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. Beardslee's attorneys had asked the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. In a detailed five-page response, Schwarzenegger detailed the brutality of Beardslee's three killings and rejected the argument that the killer was mentally impaired. "We are not dealing here with a man who is so generally affected by his impairment that he cannot tell the difference between right and wrong," Schwarzenegger said. TOP COURT REJECTS STAY APPEAL Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Beardslee's request for a stay of execution, turning down his appeal without any comment or recorded dissent. Defense lawyers argued to the court that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment and that jurors were unfairly influenced in reaching a death verdict. California, the nation's most populous state, has the largest death row population in the United States and perhaps the world, but it rarely administers the ultimate punishment. Lengthy appeals typically lead to two decades of delay before an inmate is executed. Beardslee would become the 11th inmate executed since California restored the death penalty in 1978. He is one of 640 people on California's death row. Texas is second with 455. Beardslee declined the state's offer of a last meal of his choice on Tuesday, a prison official said. He is set to die by lethal injection of three chemicals, including potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest. Last year Schwarzenegger rejected the only other clemency petition made to him from a death row inmate, Kevin Cooper, who was convicted of murdering four people in southern California. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco granted Cooper an 11th-hour reprieve. (With additional reporting from Jim Vicini in Washington)

Arnold calls democracts girlie men Arnold pushes his first execution Arnold signs geese rights bill { October 6 2004 } Arnold vetoes hot spring bill Arnold wants stray pets terminated { June 25 2004 } Bush shunned by arnold in oct 2005 visit { October 21 2005 } California borrow 15b proposed arnold { November 19 2003 } California political spat intesifying budget finally passes { July 6 2004 } Lawmakers arnold strike bduget agreement Moody upgrades california citing recovery { May 21 2004 } Prisons over education { November 19 2003 } Republican tom mcclintock says borrowing unconstitutional { November 19 2003 } Schwarzenegger allows mental impaired execution Schwarzenegger suggests republicans move leftward Schwarzenegger to probe women allegations Schwarzenneger sworn in as governor { November 17 2003 } Senate rejects bond measure { December 5 2003 } Two polls give schwarzenegger high marks Voters and arnold pish stem cell research { November 3 2004 } Voters approve schwartzeneggers debt plan { March 3 2004 } Files Listed: 20

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