A 66-year-old Arizona death row inmate with paranoid schizophrenia and blindness was put to death Wednesday for the 1978 slaying of a State University student.
Clarence Wayne Dixon was sentenced to death in 2008 for raping and killing 21-year-old Deana Bowdoin who lived across the street from his home in Tempe.
His attorneys had long argued that his mental illness drove him to commit the crime citing a medical evaluation that confirmed that if Dixon was not suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, he likely wouldn’t have killed Bowdoin.
Dixon’s last meal consisted of fried chicken, strawberry ice cream, and a bottle of water; he was given a lethal injection and died at around 10 a.m.
The night before Dixon’s execution, two advocacy groups held vigils for the mentally disabled inmate.
