Richard Clay, media sources here and here and here.

Clemency

Richard Clay was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Randy Martindale in 1994 in a murder-for-hire scheme organized by Martindale’s wife. Clay has maintained his innocence and the prosecutor was found to have withheld evidence that refuted the state’s theory and corroborated Clay’s account. On January 10, 2011, the eve of Clay’s scheduled execution, Governor Jay Nixon commuted Clay’s sentence to life without parole. Gov. Nixon did not elaborate on reasons for commuting Clay’s death sentence, and confirmed that he believed Clay was guilty of the offense. The prosecuting attorney at trial was Kenny Hulshof, a special prosecutor with the Attorney General’s Office (and former U.S. Congressman) whose unethical practices led to several overturned convictions and exonerations. Hulsof ran for governor against Gov. Nixon in the 2008 gubernatorial election and was defeated.