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A three-time murderer who claimed he had a brain defect that made him easily swayed by others was put to death Wednesday in California’s first execution in three years.
Donald Beardslee, 61, died by lethal injection nearly a quarter-century after murdering two women over a drug deal while on parole for a third killing.
Hours earlier, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected a clemency petition and the Supreme Court turned down two last-minute appeals. Beardslee’s lawyers claimed he suffered from brain maladies when he killed Stacey Benjamin, 19, and Patty Geddling, 23, in 1981 to avenge a soured $185 drug deal.
