Arizona killer awaits Wednesday execution

Arizona inmate Robert Moorman was on schedule Sunday to be executed for the 1984 murder and dismemberment of his elderly mother, prison officials said. Moorman, 63, has been in poor health for many years but was well enough to speak at a clemency hearing Friday, which the Arizona Republic said was likely his last hope of avoiding his Wednesday date with death at the state prison in Florence. Moorman was convicted of murdering his 74-year-old adoptive mother, Maude Moorman, at a motel in Florence and then disposing of her body parts in dumpsters around town. Moorman was classified as mentally retarded and his attorneys argued he had been sexually abused mercilessly by Maude Moorman over the years. The slaying occurred during a 72-hour furlough while Moorman was serving time for the kidnapping and rape of an 8-year-old neighbor girl in 1972. Moorman said at Friday's hearing he had no direct memory of killing his mother other than tying her up and then carrying her into the motel bathroom. The newspaper said Moorman's attorneys, mental health professionals and even fellow inmates consider him to have the mental capabilities of a child. The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing the mentally retarded violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments.