By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) – Arizona is preparing to execute its first execution since 2014. A prisoner convicted for killing a student was scheduled to die eight years after the last state lethal injection. Lawyers described it as a botched attempt.

Clarence Wayne Dixon was convicted in 1978 of killing Arizona State University student Deana Bowldoin. He was due to be executed at 10 AM local time in Florence.

Arizona’s first execution since Joseph Wood’s 2014 death would be Dixon. Witnesses said that Dixon snorted before the injection of two drugs to kill Wood went into effect. It was almost two hours. Wood, according to the corrections authorities was in a state of comatose. He never felt pain.

Afterwards, Arizona halted executions. A federal judge approved sweeping changes to the death penalty protocol, which included an agreement not to use certain drugs. It stated that it would restrict the ability of the Department of Corrections director to alter drugs, and give a prisoner the opportunity to challenge drug modifications.

Many state governments have had difficulty in recent years obtaining drugs for lethal injection drugs. Legal and ethical issues swirl around capital punishment.

In 2008 Dixon, 30 years after Bowdoin’s death, was sentenced. This case remained unsolved up until 2001 when investigators found evidence at the crime scene that matched Dixon’s DNA. Dixon was in 1986 for sexual assault and was being held to death.

Robert Olson of Pinal County Superior court ruled last week Dixon is mentally fit for execution. Olson claimed that Dixon was suffering from schizophrenia and had “sophistication” and “coherent, organized thinking”. He also said that Dixon believed he was being executed because he was accused of a 1985 incident. It was different from the 1986 incident of sexual assault.

United States Supreme Court ruled execution of persons with disabilities is against the Constitution.