Missouri’s oldest death row inmate is appealing to the governor ahead of his execution, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
Attorneys for 74-year-old Cecil Clayton argue he suffers from dementia, and the lingering effects of a 1972 sawmill accident that cost him part of his brain.
Clayton was sentenced to death for the 1996 killing of a sheriff’s deputy.
Clayton was convicted of shooting deputy Christopher Castetter in Barry County, in Southwestern Missouri.
Castetter was investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle at the time of the shooting.
Clayton’s attorneys are seeking a competency hearing because they say he’s not mentally fit to be put to death.
The state Supreme Court declined to intervene on Saturday, so it’s ultimately up to Governor Jay Nixon or the U.S. Supreme Court to decide his fate.
A spokesperson for Governor Nixon said Monday only that Nixon is weighing Clayton’s request.
