Transcript: Life and Death Fight
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," December 27, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Three weeks from today, 75-year-old Clarence Ray Allen is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in California. He was already behind bars for murder when he hired a hit man to kill three more people in 1980. Allen's lawyers are asking for clemency arguing that the convicted killer is now a blind diabetic who needs open-heart surgery.
But Deputy Attorney General Ward Campbell has been working on Allen's case since 1981 and he thinks he should die for his crimes. Ward Campbell joins us live from Sacramento, welcome Ward.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WARD CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good evening.
VAN SUSTEREN: Ward, it's sort of unusual. You've been working on this case from the very beginning, trial through all the appeals and the habeases and everything up right to the moment. Why has it taken so long to sort of weave its way through the court system?
CAMPBELL: Well, this is not an untypical experience out here in California, Greta. We spend a considerable time out here in California, both at the state level and then at the federal court level reviewing these cases and frankly Mr. Allen's case is not really taking much longer than most cases that have reached their climax have in this state.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: All right, correct me if I'm wrong but the first murder that he ordered involved a 17-year-old young woman/girl, is that right?
CAMPBELL: That's correct. That was back in 1974.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right and so and then (INAUDIBLE) and it was feared that she told somebody else about other crimes and so we have this second group of murders in 1981 to sort of shut them up so they wouldn't testify against him if he got a retrial in the first case is that right?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CAMPBELL: Yes, basically this woman was an accomplice with a burglary of a local market. She had regrets. She told the son of the owner, Bryan Schletewitz about the burglary. Mr. Allen had her killed in 1974.
When he was tried for the murder in 1977, Bryan Schletewitz was a witness against him. At the trial in 1980, Mr. Allen frankly had Mr. Schletewitz killed at the Fran's Market at the same place where the burglary occurred.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, so he's not the trigger man but he's the one who is ordering the killings, not to suggest that that makes him any less culpable or makes it a less heinous crime but he's not the trigger man right?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CAMPBELL: No, he's the moving force. He was the mastermind. It was his idea, his plan.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Is he currently a threat? I mean when you look at this and does that make a difference?
CAMPBELL: Well, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals when they affirmed this case, of course, indicated he continued to pose a threat to society. Mr. Allen, notwithstanding his health problems, is still able to communicate. He's still able to manipulate. He's never expressed any remorse. He's never admitted these crimes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The people who testified against him and their families have not — were not protected the first time because society failed them and I don't see any reason why they should be asked to gamble again on another life sentence for Mr. Allen.
VAN SUSTEREN: The defense has filed a petition for clemency with the governor. I mean we've certainly seen the governor rejected the last one. I don't know how he's going to rule on this one. But I assume that you are opposing the clemency petition.
CAMPBELL: We did. We filed an opposition last week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: And, what is the grounds that you oppose it on?
CAMPBELL: Well, Mr. Allen has cited his age, the length of time on death row, claims about innocence, errors at his trial. We found and told the governor we found all those reasons to be unpersuasive given the nature of his crime, which was in fact a direct attack on the criminal justice system perpetrated by a man for whom society thought — for whom society thought was safe.
They thought they were safe from him because he was behind bars and yet he continued to perpetrate these types of crimes and none of the factors that they cite now overshadow or outbalance those reasons for now executing the judgment of the people of the State of California.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: Ward, what do you make of the fact that he had a massive heart attack in September and there was a huge rush to save his life. They saved his life. He's in bad health. And, I suppose if he had a heart attack tonight the same thing would be done by the State of California. And then, of course, on the 17th the plan is to execute him. How do you look at that?
CAMPBELL: Mr. Allen until the time of the execution is a patient. He's entitled to full medical benefits. His potential sentence doesn't enter into any calculus as far as his medical treatment is concerned and, in fact, he's been saved through heroic measures according to his own attorney. But that's exactly what he's entitled to at this point.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you expect to attend the execution?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CAMPBELL: Yes, I'll be present, yes.
VAN SUSTEREN: Have you ever been to one before?
CAMPBELL: No, this will be the first one.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: What do you think is going to go through your mind as you watch this? Have you thought about it or contemplated it at all?
CAMPBELL: I think it's the fulfillment of a commitment I made back in 1981 to the case, to the state and to the families of the victims in this case.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you still stay in contact with the victim's family members?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CAMPBELL: The Schletewitz family in particular and then the Rocha and the White family, the other two victims more recently with it, the Schletewitz family especially for all the last 23 years very continuous contact.
VAN SUSTEREN: It's funny, funny isn't the right word but I guess viewers probably don't understand that sometimes there's a bond between the prosecutors and the families that can go on many years.
CAMPBELL: There certainly was in this case especially with the Schletewitz family.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Ward, thank you and, of course, we're going to be watching to see what Governor Schwarzenegger does with this. Thank you, Ward.
CAMPBELL: Thank you.
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