No Mercy for Oldest Man on Death Row

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ruled out a clemency hearing for the state's oldest death row prisoner.

Clarence Ray Allen, 75, is scheduled to be executed on January 17 for ordering three murders while serving a life sentence in prison. He is blind, deaf, and confined to a wheelchair.

Allen would be the second-oldest man executed in the United States in recent decades. In December, a 77-year-old Mississippi man became the oldest prisoner executed in the United States since it resumed capital punishment in 1977.

Citing the failing health of their client, who suffered a heart attack in September, Allen's lawyers have sought to stay his execution. A federal judge last month declined their request.

Details here from Reuters via CNN Law Center.