‘We know this execution isn't going to bring Chris back,' he said. 'But it destroys an evil person that would otherwise be walking this earth.'There is no doubt in my mind that Cecil knew what he had done... The Great State of Missouri did not kill an innocent man. Cecil Clayton's actions is what put him to death.'
20 years ago
on this date, November 28, 1996, Field Deputy Christopher Lee Castetter of
the Barry County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri, was killed in the line of duty.
Let us honor this fallen policeman and thank God, that justice was served, as the
Cop Killer, Cecil Clayton was executed on March 17, 2015.
Let us hear
from the fallen police’s family and friends who supported him all the way:
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Field Deputy
Christopher Lee Castetter
EOW: November 27, 1996
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.missourinet.com/2015/03/17/attorneys-family-argue-whether-killer-of-barry-county-deputy-should-be-executed-by-missouri-tonight/
Attorneys,
family, argue whether killer of Barry County deputy should be executed by
Missouri tonight
March 17, 2015 By
It’s been
more than 18 years since Cecil Clayton fatally shot Barry County Sheriff’s
Deputy Christopher Lee Castetter. His attorneys argue that a brain injury he
suffered 43 years ago means he shouldn’t be executed for that crime, as is
scheduled to happen today.
In the 1972
accident a piece of lumber shot through the skull of Clayton, now 74, and
doctors removed part of his frontal lobe. His attorneys say he was a changed
man after that. They say he went from a happily married, religious man who had
quit drinking, preached and sang gospel music, to a man who suffered from
anxiety, loss of memory and focus, impulsive behavior, and hallucinations.
His attorneys
don’t deny that Clayton fatally shot Castetter in November, 1996, when the
deputy responded to a call from Clayton’s girlfriend’s sister, who was
concerned about Clayton sitting in the driveway in front of her home following
an argument with his girlfriend.
Attorney
Cynthia Short maintains that examinations by multiple doctors in the past
decade show him to be incompetent to be executed under the U.S. Constitution
and Missouri law.
“If a person
is unable to understand what his punishment is, or that he has been punished,
or believes that the punishment is the product of a conspiracy that has been
brought forth against him based on his delusional thinking,” Short told
Missourinet, “then it is not in society’s interest and certainly not in the
interest of the impaired person to punish them in a way they do not
understand.”
Short said
Clayton’s IQ has also diminished over the years to 71, and argues that to
execute him would violate laws against executing the intellectually disabled.
The state
Supreme Court has rejected one of Clayton’s attorneys’ attempts to halt his
execution, finding that he is competent to be executed and that he remembers,
“details from 1996 quite clearly and is aware that both he and his counsel
continue to search for arguments to preclude his execution,” as written by
Judge Paul Wilson in his opinion. It also found that he does not meet the state
law’s threshold for an intellectual disability.
“I
think it’s B.S.,” James Castetter, Christopher Castetter’s brother,
said of the claim that Clayton is incompetent. Castetter told Missourinet he
believes Clayton knew what he was doing the night he killed his brother.
“He
knew he was wrong because he went to Cole’s house to get him, let him know what
he did, [to say] ‘You’re my alibi,'” said Castetter, referring to
Clayton’s friend at the time of the murder, Martin Cole. “If he would have stayed there, asked ‘What did I do?’ Said,
‘Hey Cole, I did this. I can’t believe I did this,’ that might be one thing,”
said Castetter. “He knew what he was talking about, so
that’s a competent person.”
James
Castetter, who is an emergency medical technician in Florida, is in Missouri
today to witness Clayton’s execution.
“I
think it’s going to put closure,” said Castetter. “Knowing that the evil that killed my brother is no longer
walking this earth … and remembering my brother the way he used to be.”
Castetter has named his daughter after his brother, and plans to bring her to
Missouri some other time to see the section of highway in southwest Missouri
that is named for him.
Castetter
hasn’t told his daughter why he’s in Missouri this week. “That’s one thing I
don’t want her to know, at least now.”
Clayton’s
attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit federal
court to halt his execution and additional actions are pending in a U.S.
Western District and U.S. Eastern District court. Governor Jay Nixon (D) has
also been asked to commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. Nixon
was Missouri’s attorney general when earlier challenges to Clayton’s death
sentence were rejected, including when a federal appeals court upheld that
sentence in 2008.
“Deputy
Castetter was protecting the law-abiding citizens of Barry County when he was
shot and killed without warning by Cecil Clayton,” Nixon said
in a statement at the time. “The jury appropriately
determined Clayton should face the ultimate punishment.”
Clayton’s
execution is set to happen between 6 p.m. tonight and 5:59 Wednesday. If it
hasn’t happened by the latter time, the execution warrant from the state
Supreme Court will expire and the court would have to set a new date. His is
the first execution since the 1930s that Missouri has scheduled for a time
other than 12:01 in the morning.
INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.monett-times.com/story/2179742.html
Castetter admired after
killer executed
Friday,
March 27, 2015
By Kyle
Troutman editor@monett-times.com
Barry
County Sheriff, deputies visit gravesite instead of attending execution
"Deputy Sheriff No. 52 was a man who loved the simple things in
life ... biscuits and gravy, the countryside, Elvis and John Wayne. He wore his
badge proudly as he protected and served the people. He should never be
forgotten by the people whose lives he touched. May his memory always be kept
alive. I'll love you forever, your wife."
So reads
the headstone of Christopher Castetter, former Barry County sheriff's deputy
who was killed in the line of duty on Nov. 27, 1996.
Castetter's
convicted killer and Missouri's oldest death row inmate, Cecil Clayton, 74, was
put to death by lethal injection on March 17 at 9:21 p.m., and instead of
traveling to witness the execution, Castetter's brothers in blue decided to
spend that time with him -- at his Pilant Cemetery gravesite on Highway Y.
"I did not go to the execution," said Mick Epperly, Barry County sheriff, who was running for the office
at the time of Castetter's death. "Several of
us [at the sheriff's office] discussed going, but we decided we wanted to do
something for Chris.
"So, we went down to his gravesite that day, and as a friend and a
brother to us, we wanted to be with him and said a prayer for him there. Now
that he has gotten justice, rather than driving across the state to be with
Cecil, we wanted to be with Chris."
Jimmy
Castetter, Chris Castetter's brother, did attend the execution and said when
Clayton took his last breath, it was a relief for him and his family.
"Cecil
died in a humane way and comfortable way, unlike Chris,"
he said. "It was a release knowing Cecil would not
be walking the Earth any more, and a relief to know that we wouldn't have to
deal with this any more."
Castetter
said the waiting period before Clayton's eventual execution was the most
difficult part.
"It
was really tough not knowing if they'd prolong it or if it would be
delayed," he said. "The anticipation of not knowing was the most difficult part."
Castetter
said when he finally learned it would proceed, he and the family were taken
into a dark room and told not to speak. A curtain was opened and Clayton was
laying there, eyes closed the entire time.
"That
was the moment of truth," he said. "I had read
so much about people saying it's inhumane, and I was wondering what people
would say about this one. I watched his breathing because that was the only way
to really tell. They didn't tell us when the injection started, so I watched
his breathing and saw it slow down gradually, then that was it.
"Cecil
never opened his eyes, almost like he knew we were there. When he took his last
breath, it was a big weight off my shoulders."
Epperly, who wore since-retired badge No. 52 before leaving his deputy position to run for sheriff, said Chris Castetter was one-of-a-kind in the uniform and at home."Chris was well-respected and always had a smile on his face," Epperly said. "Working at the sheriff's office, he did a really good job, and everyone thought the world of him."All the time I knew Chris, I just never heard any bad words about him. He was a dedicated officer and a wonderful family man."Epperly said Castetter, who was 29 at the time of his death, had gone through the academy and was in his second year as a deputy."I have so much respect for his family, because I don't know what it would be like to go through losing such a great husband and father," Epperly said. "Where would Chris be now if this hadn't happened? It shouldn't have happened."Jimmy Castetter said his brother was a simple man who loved the outdoors and even inspired him to be a firefighter."Chris liked the outdoors, like hunting and fishing," he said. "When we were younger, I lived in Indiana and he lived in Florida, and he loved the beach stuff. He was the one who got me interested in being a volunteer firefighter, and now it's been my career since 1990."Public service runs in the Castetters' bloodlines, as Jimmy and Chris have another brother who is a deputy in Florida, and the pair's father was a police officer who was disabled after being shot in the line of duty."Public service runs in the family and Chris liked to help people," Jimmy Castetter said. "He's the type of person that if there's one sandwich left, he will give it to you no matter how hungry he is. Chris left the beach life to go to Cassville, and he loved the small-town feel and the countryside."
Clayton
was convicted of killing Castetter while Castetter was answering a domestic
disturbance call at a rural Barry County home. Clayton gunned down Castetter in
his vehicle shortly after he arrived at the home.
Clayton's
case drew extra attention because in 1972, he was involved in a sawmill
accident that led to one-fifth of the frontal lobe of his brain being removed.
Clayton's lawyers said the damage to his brain changed his personality and may
have turned him into a killer, as well as rendered him mentally incompetent and
ineligible for capital punishment.
The
lawyers pressed the issue up until the time of Clayton's death. Appeals to the
U.S. Supreme Court, Missouri Supreme Court and Gov. Jay Nixon were each denied,
and the U.S. Supreme Court's late, 5-4 decision delayed the execution nearly
three hours.
The state
previously argued medical experts found Clayton understood why he was being
executed, and his intellectual issues has to be present before he turned 18 for
him to escape the punishment.
Epperly
said the requests for the stay and the clemency were unfounded, as Barry County
jurors and a Barry County judge made the decision.
"It's
not up to the sheriff's department," he said.
"The punishment was carried out by the judicial
system. No one here holds a grudge against the Clayton family. Cecil decided to
do what he did on that one night, he knew what he was doing and he had to pay
the consequences. I hope we never have another one in Barry County."
Since
Castetter's death, Highway 112, from the intersection at Highway 76 south to
Highway AA, has been memorialized in his honor, per a 2007 Missouri State House
bill.
©
Copyright 2015, Monett Times
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Pictured is the headstone at Christopher
Castetter's Pilant Cemetery gravesite. It reads, "Deputy Sheriff No. 52
was a man who loved the simple things in life ... biscuits and gravy, the
countryside, Elvis and John Wayne. He wore his badge proudly as he protected
and served the people. He should never be forgotten by the people whose lives
he touched. May his memory always be kept alive. I'll love you forever, your
wife." Kyle Troutman/editor@monett-times.com
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.monett-times.com/story/2179742.html]
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article15252212.html
Brother of slain deputy witnesses killer’s execution in Missouri
James
Castetter came from his Florida home to Missouri to see Cecil Clayton executed
for the 1996 killing of his brother, Christopher Castetter, a deputy sheriff in
Barry County, Mo.
March 18, 2015 12:33 PM
By TONY
RIZZO
The
Kansas City Star
In his long
firefighting career, James Castetter witnessed many people take their last
breath after some traumatic event like a car wreck or shooting.
On Tuesday
night, he watched another man die under far different circumstances.
Castetter
came from his Florida home to Missouri to see Cecil Clayton executed for the
November 1996 killing of his brother, Christopher Castetter, a deputy sheriff
in Barry County, Mo.
“I’m
asking you to please let people know Cecil did not suffer,”
James Castetter said Wednesday. “Cecil Clayton, unlike
my brother, died humanely and comfortable, a way he did not deserve.”
James
Castetter takes exception to some news reports that mentioned that Clayton
breathed heavily when the lethal injection process began.
“Being
in the fire service/medical field since 1987, I know the difference between
normal and abnormal breathing,” Castetter said.
At 74,
Clayton was the oldest man on Missouri’s death row. His attorneys argued up to
the end that he was not competent to be executed because an industrial accident
damaged his brain in 1972.
Ultimately,
the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 Tuesday night to deny Clayton’s last request
to stay the execution.
For James
Castetter, the arguments about Clayton’s mental state — both at the time of his
brother’s death and on Tuesday — never were convincing.
According to
trial testimony, after shooting Castetter, Clayton told a friend what he had
done and attempted to set up an alibi.
“He
knew what he was doing,” James Castetter said.
And whatever
Clayton’s understanding was of his impending fate, his final statement Tuesday
showed some level of comprehension: “They brought me up
here to execute me.”
James
Castetter said having the execution over after so many years of wondering was a
“big relief.”
“The
state of Missouri did not kill an innocent man,” he said. “Cecil Clayton’s
actions are what put him to death.”
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