Overview
- The Maricopa County Attorney announced Tuesday that 35‑year‑old Humphry Dixon Dogbe was sentenced to death for the 2020 sexual assault and killing of Lori Lynn Blankenship.
- Prosecutors say gas‑station surveillance footage showed Dogbe dragging, choking and sexually assaulting the victim and that a witness who tried to intervene later identified him in a photo lineup.
- Authorities say Dogbe, a registered sex offender who lived nearby, was found hours later wearing the same clothes seen on video and reportedly admitted to raping and choking Blankenship.
- A jury convicted Dogbe in September of first‑degree murder, kidnapping, sexual abuse and four counts of sexual assault, and he received a separate 48‑year prison term in October that will run concurrently.
- The death sentence starts a long legal path: defense appeals and post‑conviction reviews must play out before the state can ask the Arizona Supreme Court for an execution warrant and any carryout of the sentence.