Death-Row Inmate Gets Reprieve

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - A day before he was scheduled to die, an Oklahoma inmate won a 30-day reprieve Wednesday so DNA tests can be performed on misplaced evidence from the crime scene. Robert Clayton, 39, was to be executed by injection Thursday for the 1985 murder of Rhonda Kay Timmons, 19, at a Tulsa apartment complex. Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, a death penalty supporter, granted the stay in the absence of Gov. Frank Keating, who was in Florida for the college national championship football game between Oklahoma and Florida State. ``The state of Oklahoma would be acting irresponsibly if we did not examine this evidence,'' Fallin said. ``I believe we must use the state's new DNA law to either prove guilt or establish innocence, even if we do the testing at the last minute.'' Keating spokesman Phil Bacharach said the governor supported Fallin's decision. Defense attorney James Hankins said the evidence included a knife as well as a bloody sock and overalls Clayton purportedly wore during the crime. DNA tests could show decisively whether the blood on the sock and overalls belonged to the victim. Hankins said he was told the evidence was found at the Tulsa Police Department. A court reporter and the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office disagreed on who was responsible for keeping up with the evidence.

Oklahoma Execution Stayed for DNA Testing

By Ben Fenwick (Reuters) OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A man due to be executed on Thursday for a 1985 stabbing, the first of a record eight executions scheduled in Oklahoma this month, won a last-minute stay for DNA testing of evidence in his case, state officials said. Lt. Governor Mary Fallin, acting because the governor was out of state, issued the 30-day stay for Robert William Clayton late on Wednesday, said Charlie Price, spokesman for the state attorney general's office. Fallin granted the stay after a bloody sock, overalls and knife that had been misplaced were found in the Tulsa County District Attorney's office on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before Clayton was to die by lethal injection. Clayton has maintained he is innocent of the crime, and his attorneys have been trying to find the evidence for DNA testing since last October. ``The state of Oklahoma would be acting irresponsibly it we did not examine this evidence,'' Fallin said in a statement. If DNA tests confirm Clayton's guilt, a new execution date will be set by the state court of criminal appeals. If the tests raise doubts about Clayton's guilt, his attorneys can file a request to keep Clayton alive while they seek a new trial or dismissal. Clayton, 39, had been scheduled to be the first of eight death-row inmates to be executed in January, the most in one month in Oklahoma history. The total would also tie the modern U.S. record held by neighboring Texas, which put eight people to death in both May and June of 1997. In 2000, Texas set a U.S. record for most executions in a year with 40, while Oklahoma ranked second nationally with 11. The Rev. Jesse Jackson planned to lead a march on Thursday afternoon in Oklahoma City to protest the state's death penalty. Jackson said he had met with Gov. Frank Keating previously and asked him to declare a moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma similar to one imposed in Illinois last year. ``One man scheduled to die tonight will not and that at least is a short sigh of relief,'' Jackson said about Clayton's stay. ``We appeal to this state to stop the cycle of killing,'' he told Reuters. Jackson said he would meet on Thursday with Wanda Jean Allen, scheduled to die on Jan. 11 for the 1988 murder of her lover, Gloria Leathers. Allen would be the first African-American woman to be executed in the United States since 1954 and the first woman to be executed in Oklahoma since 1903, before it became a state. Clayton was convicted of the 1985 stabbing of Rhonda Kay Timmons, 19, who lived in an apartment building where Clayton was groundskeeper. Timmons was beaten, stabbed 12 times and strangled with a bathing suit. Law enforcement officials said Clayton admitted the slaying.