Plea for Robert Eagle Clayton

Newest Information: The DNA testing requested 1/3/01, the reason for Robert's stay, was not in his favor and the execution has been rescheduled for February 2, 2001.

By Anne Good, JD Staff writer

Long in advance the condemned man knows that he is going to be killed and that the only thing that can save him is a reprieve. In any case, he cannot intervene, make a plea outside himself, or convince. Everything goes on outside him. He is no longer a man but a thing waiting to be handled by the executioners. -- Albert Camus

Recently, while speaking with my mother, she reminded me that there was a time when an impending execution received extensive media coverage. "We all followed the crime, the investigation, and the trial. We may not have all agreed on the outcome but we certainly knew why it had turned out that way." There were the Scotsboro boys, the Rosenbergs, Bruno Hauptman, and Private Eddie Slovik, to name a few. Remarkably, all these years later, most of us still know their names and something about the crime they are said to have committed.

Today the media offers us cold, hard, faceless numbers. It is not unusual to hear Peter Jennings report, "Today Texas will hold its 39th execution of the year, breaking last year's record. Six more executions are scheduled for this month." Camus tells us that "executions are performed in secret because they are shameful deeds." He further states that "governments who wish executions to continue know to keep them hidden from view." With all this in mind, please allow me to introduce you to Robert Eagle Clayton:

With all appeals exhausted, Robert Eagle Clayton is scheduled to die by lethal injection in the state of Oklahoma on January 4, 2001. The clock is ticking fast, but for Robert time is standing still; a last minute phone call from the Governor's office, although theoretically possible, seems unlikely.

Before Robert is taken for one final walk, shackled and surrounded by guards, strapped to a gurney against his will, and forcibly injected with a lethal mixture of drugs that will shut down each one of his organs, it seems only right that we know a little about him. Perhaps by allowing him into our heads and hearts, even at this last minute, a little piece of him can live on in every one of us.

Robert Eagle Clayton has been on death row for over 15 years. Life there hasn't been easy. Contrary to a popularly held belief, he does not spend his time watching television, working out in the gym or studying to be a lawyer. He is confined to his cell 23 hours a day for four days out of the week. The rest of the week he is in his cell for the full 24 hours. His daily diet consists of food most of us would not serve to our pets. He has watched good men go crazy and not-so-good men commit brutal crimes against fellow inmates. He has lived in fear; he has learned to conquer fear. Every day of his life since his 1985 conviction, a crime he says he did not commit, has been spent surrounded by darkness and despair. His suffering will end less than one week from today.

Clayton is 39 years old. He was a bright child who was forced to drop out of school in the 7th grade to help with family expenses. He worked very hard at physically demanding, low paying jobs. In the evenings he would fish. He loved being out on the water feeling the wind against his face. When he wasn't working or fishing he would assist his father in building shrimp boats. In the process, he became quite a good carpenter.

Today he practices his Native American religion with fellow Native American inmates. He spends much of his time creating Indian folk art through painting and drawing. Many years ago he visited the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The beauty of the people and the area has stayed with him. It is his dream to return there and use his skills to help fellow Native Americans build much needed housing.

Those who know Robert describe him as "honest, caring, deeply religious, and absolutely innocent of the charges for which he was convicted."

It has been said that "there is a time to live and a time to die." In spite of the efforts of many people to help, this may be Robert's time to die. The staff at Justice Denied asks that each of you spend a moment with Robert this Thursday evening in whatever way seems comfortable. You can light a candle, pray, meditate, or simply think about him. It is a small gesture but it seems the least we can do, for we have failed Robert in all other ways. Mainly we have failed to collectively stand up and say, "No more."

As we move ahead toward Thursday, let us keep in mind that while it may be Robert's time to die, it is surely our time to grieve. Every single time a person is executed without the benefit of the full truth emerging in a courtroom, we all lose. The fragile weave of the concept we call "freedom" takes another blow.

Keep Robert alive by recommitting yourself to ending this barbaric practice of state-sanctioned premeditated murder. Stop the insanity before it stops someone that you love. Just ask Robert's parents. He is not just another number to them. And we cannot allow Oklahoma's "shameful deed" to remain "hidden from view."

©Justice: Denied