Appeals court denies Arizona inmate’s bid to avoid execution, will be put to death Wednesday

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - After a long battle between defense lawyers and the state, the first execution in Arizona in nearly eight years is set to be completed Wednesday morning.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a request to postpone the planned execution of 66-year-old Clarence Dixon, who will be put to death by lethal injection  at the state prison in Florence.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of appeals keeps on track plans to execute Dixon for his murder conviction in the 1978 killing of 21-year-old Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin.

Both the Arizona Supreme Court and Federal Court have rejected Dixon's lawyers argument that he is mentally unfit to be executed and had no rational understanding of why the state wanted to put him to death.

Now Dixon will be the first prisoner put to death since 2014. The state has 113 more prisoners on death row with one more scheduled for next month.