Clarence Hill (murderer)
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Clarence Edward Hill (December 2, 1957 – September 20, 2006) was an American convicted murderer executed by the state of Florida. A native of Mobile, Alabama, Hill was convicted of the October 19, 1982 murder of Pensacola, Florida police officer Stephen Taylor and the wounding of Taylor's partner, Larry Bailly, when both officers responded to a bank alarm. Hill was sentenced to death by
lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
. On January 24, 2006, as his execution was just moments away from commencing—Hill was strapped to a gurney with intravenous lines in his arms—it was stopped by a stay from Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Hill's lawyer, Todd Doss, had lobbied for the stay on the grounds that the chemicals involved in lethal injection violated Mr. Hill's Eighth Amendment rights, protecting against "
cruel and unusual punishment Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction. The precise definition varies by jurisd ...
." On June 12, 2006, Justice Anthony Kennedy authored an opinion for a unanimous court in
Hill v. McDonough ''Hill v. McDonough'', 547 U.S. 573 (2006), was a United States Supreme Court case challenging the use of lethal injection as a form of execution in the state of Florida. The Court ruled unanimously that a challenge to the method of execution as ...
which gave Hill a temporary reprieve. The Court concluded that Mr. Hill did have the right to make an Eighth Amendment claim against Florida's method of lethal injection, overturning a District Court ruling. The ruling did not declare that the chemical used in lethal injections in Florida was unconstitutional, but it allows inmates to make the claim. However, a district court in Tallahassee and an appeals court in Atlanta refused to hear Hill's challenges, ruling that he should have filed earlier. An appeal was again filed with the Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 on September 20, 2006 to deny another stay. Later that day, 24 years after his crime, Hill was executed through lethal injection by the state of Florida, at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida. He did not reply when asked if he had a last statement, staring straight at the ceiling, awaiting start of the lethal injection."Clarence Hill Executed In Florida"
WCBS-TV


See also

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Capital punishment in Florida Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Florida. Since 1976, the state has executed 99 convicted murderers, all at Florida State Prison. As of July 8, 2021, 327 offenders are awaiting execution. History Florida performed ...
*
Capital punishment in the United States In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 s ...
* List of people executed in Florida * List of people executed in the United States in 2006


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External links


Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 089718
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Florida Department of Corrections The Florida Department of Corrections operates state prisons in the U.S. state of Florida. It has its headquarters in Florida's capital of Tallahassee. The Florida Department of Corrections operates the third largest state prison system in the ...
''. Retrieved on 2007-11-14. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Clarence 1957 births 2006 deaths 1982 murders in the United States 21st-century executions of American people 21st-century executions by Florida American bank robbers American people convicted of attempted murder American people executed for murdering police officers Executed African-American people People convicted of murder by Florida People executed by Florida by lethal injection People from Mobile, Alabama Executed people from Alabama 21st-century African-American people