Life or death decision: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger is today locked in a legal battle after ordering his first execution as governor of California.

The actor turned politician refused to grant clemency to a man convicted of four murders.

The Terminator star said the case against Kevin Cooper was "overwhelming" and added: "His is not a case for clemency."

It will be the first execution in California in two years and is the first such case Schwarzenegger has had to deal with.

But in a last-minute intervention, the US Supreme Court ruled there should be a stay of the execution, which had been scheduled to take place at midnight tonight.

The case has attracted massive controversy in America, where Cooper's case has been taken up by leading civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson, who says that 46-year-old Cooper is suffering because he is "black and poor".

Jackson said: "This is not a case of seeking mercy on the philosophy of opposition to the death penalty. The outstanding information deserves a hearing."

Cooper was convicted in 1985 of murdering two adults and two children with a knife and hatchet in southern California. He has always denied the killings.

Anti-death penalty activists demonstrated in Schwarzenegger's home town in Austria and outside the gubernatorial mansion in California as he announced his determination to go ahead with the execution. The case will be considered by 11 judges in a week's time.

Schwarzenegger has ordered state lawyers to fight any decision to overturn the execution order.

Cooper's lawyers accuse the police of planting DNA evidence and say other evidence that could have proved his innocence was ignored.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in