In a decision that may have some people scratching their heads, a judge in Arizona recently ruled that law enforcement "isn't a profession."
The ruling was handed down in the case of 66-year-old death row inmate and convicted murderer Clarence Wayne Dixon, whose execution warrant was issued earlier this month for May 11.
Dixon was sentenced to death in 2008 for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old senior at Arizona State University who was raped, strangled and stabbed to death in her apartment.
In an effort to prevent his execution, Dixon's legal team filed a challenged in the in Maricopa County Superior Court, arguing that the state clemency board is stacked with cops, which violates the law and Dixon's legal rights, the Phoenix New Times reported.
State law requires that the five-member Arizona Board of Executive Clemency have no more than two members from any professional discipline. According to the Times, three members of the board are former law enforcement officials with a combined 85 years of experience in the profession. The board chair is a former assistant attorney general and the other seat is vacant, the outlet noted.
"Mr. Dixon is entitled to a fair clemency hearing before an impartial Clemency Board," Dixon's attorney Joshua Spears said in a statement. "If the Board proceeds with three of its four members being law enforcement officers, it will violate Mr. Dixon's right to a fair hearing."
But that's not how Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Hopkins sees things. Last week, Hopkins ruled against Dixon.
"Historically, law enforcement has not been thought of as a 'profession,'" the judge said in his decision. "It is not regulated as other professions are, and has little of the characteristics of what is typically considered a profession."
Hopkins went on to say that Dixon's legal team also failed to demonstrate that the board members are from the same "professional discipline."
"In simplistic terms, one member worked for Phoenix Police Department primarily as a homicide investigator and was then an employee of a security firm and later a city council member. One member was a Phoenix Police Department employee, as officer, detective, and supervisor in various assignments. One member was an ATF and DEA agent, and upon retirement was an educator at Glendale Community College," he wrote. "To the extent law enforcement may be considered a “profession” the Court finds from the information presented that each of these three members represent a different 'discipline' within the large rubric of law enforcement based upon their employment histories."
Earlier this week, Dixon declined to pick a method of execution, so lethal injection was chosen by default.
The execution could still be delayed if a judge goes forward with a hearing to determine whether Dixon is mentally fit to be put to death, CBS News reported.
If things proceed, it will be the first execution carried out in Arizona since the 2014 botched execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood, who took nearly two hours to die.
Related
Related
