Appeals court sides against death row inmate who killed Mo. deputy

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction and death sentence of Cecil Clayton, who is on Missouri's death row for killing a western Missouri sheriff's deputy.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was unanimous.

Barry County deputy Christopher Castetter was shot to death in 1996. The father of three was 29.

Clayton, now 67, was convicted in 1997. In several appeals, including the one to the 8th Circuit, he has claimed mental incompetence. His attorney, Susan Hunt of Kansas City, said she will seek a rehearing but declined further comment.

Attorney General Jay Nixon, whose office prosecuted the case, lauded the ruling.

"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. "The jury appropriately determined Clayton should face the ultimate punishment."

Castetter went to Clayton's home near Cassville on Thanksgiving Eve 1996 to check on a suspicious vehicle report. Authorities said Clayton shot the deputy once in the head even before he got out of his car.

Castetter's funeral was at Cassville High School's gymnasium to accommodate the large number of mourners.

Clayton's claim of mental incompetence stems from a brain injury suffered in a sawmill accident in 1972. His appeals have claimed, among other things, that his trial attorney should have asked the court to decide his competency and should have made his diminished mental capacity the main point of his defense.

In 1999 and again in 2001, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence. In the 2001 case, the court ruled unanimously that Clayton's trial attorney not only was effective but appeared to use good judgment.