conviction_status death_date death_place conviction birth_place image_size conviction_penalty image_caption birth_date article_title name image_name
executed 20 september 2006 raiford , florida , u.s. murder , attempted murder , armed robbery mobile , alabama , u.s. 200px death mug shot of hill 02 december 1957 clarence hill -lrb- murderer -rrb-
 clarence hill clarence edward hill.jpg
clarence hill -lrb- murderer -rrb-

clarence edward hill -lrb- december 2 , 1957 -- september 20 , 2006 -rrb- was an american convicted murderer executed by the state of florida .
a native of mobile , alabama , hill was convicted of the october 19 , 1982 murder of pensacola , florida police officer stephen taylor and the wounding of taylor 's partner , larry bailly , when both officers responded to a bank alarm .
hill was sentenced to death by lethal injection .
on january 24 , 2006 , as his execution was just moments away from commencing -- hill was strapped to a gurney with intravenous lines in his arms -- it was stopped by a stay from justice anthony kennedy of the united states supreme court .
mr. hill 's lawyer , todd doss , had lobbied for the stay on the grounds that the chemicals involved in lethal injection violated mr. hill 's eighth amendment rights , protecting against `` cruel and unusual punishment . ''
on june 12 , 2006 , justice anthony kennedy authored an opinion for a unanimous court in hill v. mcdonough which gave hill a temporary reprieve .
the court concluded that mr. hill did have the right to make an eighth amendment claim against florida 's method of lethal injection , overturning a district court ruling .
the ruling did not declare that the chemical used in lethal injections in florida was unconstitutional , but it allows inmates to make the claim .
however , a district court in tallahassee and an appeals court in atlanta refused to hear hill 's challenges , ruling that he should have filed earlier .
an appeal was again filed with the supreme court , which voted 5-4 on september 20 , 2006 to deny another stay .
later that day , 24 years after his crime , hill was executed through lethal injection by the state of florida , at the florida state prison in raiford , florida .
he did not reply when asked if he had a last statement , staring straight at the ceiling , awaiting start of the lethal injection .
