Clarence Hill (murderer)

For the Bermudan boxer named Clarence Hill, see Clarence Hill (boxer).

Clarence Hill
mug shot of Hill
Born	December 2, 1957(1957-12-02) Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Died	September 20, 2006(2006-09-20) (aged 48) Raiford, Florida, U.S.
Conviction(s)	Murder, attempted murder, armed robbery
Penalty	Death sentence
Status	Executed

Clarence Edward Hill (December 2, 1957 – September 20, 2006) was a 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 the two officers responded to a bank alarm. Hill was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

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."

On June 12, 2006, Justice Anthony Kennedy authored an opinion for a unanimous court in Hill v. McDonough 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.^[1]

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.^[2]

See also

• List of individuals executed in Florida
• Capital punishment in the United States

References

1. ^ 13 Page Opinion (PDF) Syllabus and Opinion
2. ^ "Clarence Hill Executed In Florida" WCBS-TV

External links

• Inmate Release Information Detail - Inmate 089718. Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.

Persondata
Name	Hill, Clarence
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 2, 1957
Place of birth	Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Date of death	September 20, 2006
Place of death	Raiford, Florida, U.S.