Citing the high cost of death penalty appeals and difficulty obtaining custody of an out-of-state prisoner, the Kern County,
California District
Attorney's office has agreed to reduce the 1989 death sentence imposed
upon Clarence Ray (pictured) to a sentence of life without parole. Ray's
lawyers had filed a petition challenging the constitutionality of his
California conviction and death sentence. The parties reached agreement
that Ray's death sentence would be reversed in exchange for his giving
up the remainder of his appeals. Prosecutors said that fighting the
petition for a reduced sentence would have cost the District Attorney's
office more than $100,000. They also indicated that they faced
substantial obstacles in obtaining custody of Ray. Ray had confessed to
the California murder while in prison in
Michigan,
where he is serving a life sentence for a separate crime. California
prosecutors said that because Ray first had to serve that sentence, he
would not be turned over to California authorities until he died. They
said that officials in Michigan - which has not had the death penalty
since 1847 - had intimated that Michigan would not release custody of
inmates to states in which they face execution. A California Superior
Court judge last week approved the deal and resentenced Ray to life
without possibility of parole.
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