MURDERER DIES IN ARIZONA EXECUTION, 1ST SINCE 2014
Lawyers had argued he wasn’t mentally fit; delay rejected
FLORENCE, Ariz.
An Arizona man convicted of killing a college student in 1978 was put to death Wednesday after a nearly eight-year hiatus in the state’s use of the death penalty brought on by a nearly two-hour execution that critics say was botched.
Clarence Dixon, 66, died by lethal injection at the state prison in Florence for his murder conviction in the killing of 21-year-old Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin, making him the sixth person to be executed in the U.S. in 2022. Dixon’s death was announced late Wednesday morning by Frank Strada, a deputy director with Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
The execution appeared to track the state’s protocol, though the medical team had some difficulty finding a vein to administer the lethal drugs. They first tried Dixon’s arms and then made an incision in his groin area. That process took about 25 minutes.
After the drugs were injected, Dixon’s mouth stayed open and his body did not move. The execution was declared completed about 10 minutes after he was injected.
In the final weeks of Dixon’s life, his lawyers tried to postpone the execution, but judges rejected the argument that he was not mentally fit to be executed and did not have a rational understanding of why the state wanted to execute him. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute delay less than an hour before the execution began.
Shortly before he was executed with pentobarbital, Strada said Dixon declared: “The Arizona Supreme Court should follow the laws. They denied my appeals and petitions to change the outcome of this trial. I do and will always proclaim innocence. Now, let’s do this (expletive).”
Leslie James, Bowdoin’s older sister and a witness to the execution, told reporters after it was conducted that her sister was a hard worker who loved to travel, spoke multiple languages and wrote poetry.
She characterized the execution as a relief but criticized how long it took to happen: “This process was way, way, way too long,” James said. He had been on death row since his 2008 conviction.