Death Row Prisoner's Plea to Arnold!

Defense attorneys for death row inmate Donald Beardslee submitted a clemency petition to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday.

Beardslee, 61, is scheduled for execution on January 19 th for the 1981 murder of Patty Geddling in San Mateo County in a dispute over a drug deal. He was also sentenced to life in prison without parole for the related murder of Stacy Benjamin.

In their petition, defense attorneys argued that the jury sentencing Beardslee was unaware that he had suffered from brain damage since birth. That damage was exacerbated by a head-on car accident and an incident when a tree fell on Beardslee's head, the lawyers said.

The attorneys also urged Schwarzenegger to consider Beardslee's behavior behind bars, which they described as "the epitome of a model prisoner."

The petition was accompanied by a thick stack of supporting evidence, including medical examinations and statements from Beardslee's relatives. There were family photographs, including some showing Beardslee being toilet trained as an infant. The defense argued that the photos, which showed him strapped to the toilet and crying, were evidence that he was mistreated by his parents.

Although a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Wednesday to halt the execution, Beardslee's lawyers have a deadline of next week to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or request that a larger panel of 9th Circuit judges review his case.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger will review the clemency petition and decide whether to intervene.

Global Arnold Staff