BREAKING: U.S. District Court Judge denies Clarence Dixon's habeas corpus action, claiming that he is not competent to be executed (READ Order)

8:30pm: LATE NIGHT UPDATE: The 9th Circuit WILL NOT reconsider the panel's decision en banc. (No judge requested such a rehearing.)

Nothing showing on U.S. Supreme Court docket. (Does NOT mean nothing has been filed.) The Dixon case has been brought to the U.S. Supreme Court three times over the past 11 years.

5:30pm: The 9th Circuit panel of three judges REFUSED to stop tomorrow's execution. "As stated above, the ultimate question is “whether [Dixon] can rationally understand the reasons for his death sentence.” The state court’s conclusion that Dixon does have this understanding was not based upon an unreasonable determination of the facts."

3pm: Here is the video of the 9th Circuit oral argument this afternoon:

2pm: We are live-tweeting the oral arguments before the 9th Circuit. Tune in: https://twitter.com/arizonaslaw/status/1524132456869232641

BREAKING: U.S. District Court Judge denies Clarence Dixon's habeas corpus action, claiming that he is not competent to be executed.

Judge Diane Humetewa issued the 26 page ruling this morning, concluding that "In sum, the competency court did not improperly restrict its assessment of Dixon’s competency to his mere awareness that he was to be punished by death. In finding that Dixon did not prove his incompetence by a preponderance of the evidence, the court reasonably applied Panetti."

Execution set for tomorrow.

This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich. Paul is currently running for a seat in Arizona's House of Representatives.

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