One of the longest-held inmates on Florida’s death row who is set to be executed on Thursday said he believed he has absorbed the souls of his victims and that they still exist inside him. The claim was testified by a defence psychologist earlier this month, as the convict’s lawyers argued that he is schizophrenic and suffers from delusions. Duane Owen is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday for two separate murders 39 years ago.
He was found guilty of fatally stabbing a 14-year-old babysitter as two children in her care were sleeping and the other a hammer attack on a mother of two, as per a report by Associated Press. While Owen’s lawyer argued that he should not be executed on grounds of insanity, prosecution said nothing would preclude him from being executed because he’s aware it’s a punishment for his crimes.
Owen was sentenced death punishment on March 24, 1984 rape and stabbing attack on Karen Slattery, 14, and for the rape and killling of Georgianna Worden, 38, in May 1984, both in Palm Beach County.
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He attacked two other women who survived and all the four attacks were executed just before and after Owen’s 23rd birthday. Now 62, Owen is one of 293 people on Florida’s execution row whose death warrant was signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and in the months before announcing he is running for president.
Psychiatrists for the state testified Owen’s schizophrenia as an act that he discusses when being evaluated, but he otherwise shows no signs of the illness.
The defence also argued that Owen has dementia and gender dysphoria which was again negated by prosecution saying he has a good memory and doesn't appear to present himself as female and that gender dysphoria doesn’t make people more aggressive or cause delusional thinking.