USA - Missouri. Gov. Jay Nixon commuted Richard Clay's death sentence

Gov. Jay Nixon commuted Richard Clay's death sentence to life in prison without parole. Clay, 45, whitewas scheduled to die just after midnight Wednesday for the 1994 for-hire murder of Randy Martindale. Clay and his supporters maintained that he was innocent. In a statement released by the governor's office, Nixon said that Clay's "involvement in this crime is clear," but chose to exercise his executive authority after “having looked at this matter in its entirety and after significant thought and counsel.” Nixon was the state's attorney general when Clay was tried and convicted. Nixon's decision caught some by surprise. A strong death penalty supporter, Nixon was the attorney general for 16 years. He was known for passionately stressing the victim's side. Often, he ran for re-election with television ads showing prison doors clanging shut. The last commutation of a death sentence by a Missouri governor was on Jan. 28, 1999, when then-Gov. Mel Carnahan spared the life of Darrell Mease after a personal appeal from the pope.