Clarence Ray Allen

Clarence Ray Allen (January 16, 1930 – January 17, 2006) was an American criminal and proxy killer who was executed in 2006 at the age of 76 by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in California for the murders of three people.

Clarence Ray Allen was born in 1930 in Blair in southwest Oklahoma.

He claimed to be of Choctaw heritage.

At 17, he married Helen Sevier, whom he had met a year earlier while working in the fields.

In 1974, Allen plotted the burglary of Fran's Market, a Fresno-area supermarket owned by Ray and Fran Schletewitz, whom Allen had known for years.

The plot involved his son, Roger Allen, as well as Ed Savala, Carl Mayfield, and Charles Jones.

Mayfield and Jones worked for Allen in his security guard business as well as part of a burglary enterprise allegedly operated by Allen.

Allen arranged for someone to steal a set of door and alarm keys from the market owner's son, Bryon Schletewitz, while Schletewitz was swimming in Allen's pool.

Allen then arranged a date between Schletewitz and Mary Sue Kitts (his son Roger's 17-year-old girlfriend) for the evening, during which time the burglary took place.

The burglary netted $500 in cash and $10,000 in money orders from the store's safe.

Following the commission of the burglary, Kitts told Bryon Schletewitz that Allen had committed the crime, which she knew as she had helped Allen cash money orders that had been stolen from the store.

Schletewitz confronted Roger Allen and informed him that he had been told of the crime by Kitts.

Roger Allen told his father, Clarence, who said that Schletewitz and Kitts would have to be "dealt with."

He enlisted three employees of his security firm, Charles Jones, Carl Mayfield and Eugene "Lee" Furrow.

Allen was the second-oldest inmate at the time to be executed in the United States since 1976.

Allen was already serving a life sentence for one murder when he was convicted of organizing the killing of three more people from prison, including a witness who had testified against him.

His lawyers declared that "he presents absolutely no danger at this point, as incapacitated as he is. There's no legitimate state purpose served by executing him. It would be gratuitous punishment."

They argued that his execution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment and requested that he be granted clemency by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was refused.

As of 2024, Allen is the most recent person to be executed in California.

On September 5, 1980, Hamilton and his girlfriend, Connie Barbo, went to Fran's Market while Bryon Schletewitz, who testified against Allen, was working.

There, Hamilton murdered Schletewitz and fellow employees Josephine Rocha, 17, and Douglas White, 18, with a sawed-off shotgun and wounded two other people, Joe Rios and Jack Abbott.

Rios raised his arm as Hamilton fired on him and this action undoubtedly saved his life.

The other wounded survivor, Abbott, was a neighbor who heard the shotgun blasts, came to the market to investigate, and was also shot by Hamilton.

Abbott returned fire and wounded Hamilton, who escaped from the scene.

Five days after the events at Fran's Market, Hamilton was arrested while attempting to rob a liquor store.

On his person was found a "hit list" with the names and addresses of the witnesses who testified against Allen at his trial for Kitts' murder; Bryon Schletewitz was on the list.

A jury convicted Hamilton of three counts of murder, one count of attempted robbery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

As special circumstances making Hamilton eligible for the death penalty, the jury found that Hamilton had committed murder-robbery, and multiple murders predicated on the killing of other victims.

According to an opinion filed on May 6, 2004, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:

Allen ordered Lee Furrow to murder Kitts.

After an unsuccessful attempt to poison her with cyanide capsules, Allen called Furrow to learn if he had killed Kitts.

Furrow told Allen he was in the process of strangling her and Allen replied, "do it."

After killing Kitts, Furrow threw her body into the Friant-Kern Canal.

The body has never been found.

Years later, Furrow was arrested and confessed to the murder, implicating Allen.

Allen was tried for first-degree murder, convicted and received a life sentence.

Furrow, who said Clarence threatened to kill him as well if he didn't murder Mary, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.

Allen conspired with fellow inmate Billy Ray Hamilton while in Folsom Prison to murder the various witnesses who had testified against him, including Bryon Schletewitz.

Allen intended to obtain a new trial, where there would be no witnesses to testify to his acts.

After Hamilton was paroled from Folsom Prison, he carried out Allen's orders.