Clarence Dixon was executed shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday on the state jail in Florence.
He was convicted in 2008 for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old senior at Arizona State University, who was discovered useless inside her house with a belt round her neck.
The 66-year-old Dixon was the primary particular person executed by Arizona since the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014.
Comply with protection from Republic reporters of the execution right here.
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For subscribers: As state resumes death penalty, former executioner tells his story
11:36 a.m. Deana Bowdoin’s household reacts
Leslie Bowdoin James, Deana Bowdoin’s sister, was at Clarence Dixon’s execution. She mentioned the occasion was not closure, however it offered finality.
“That is finality for this course of. It is reduction. It was approach, approach, approach too lengthy,” she mentioned. “Why am I not shocked that (Dixon) selected to make use of my sister’s identify?”
Colleen Clase, chief counsel for Arizona Voice For Crime Victims and Bowdoin James’ lawyer, mentioned the household regularly sought justice for Deana.
“Dixon was afforded each potential due course of treatment,” she mentioned. “Leslie by no means gave up looking for justice for Deana.”
The method has been lengthy and grueling for Bowdoin James, who informed media her husband simply died 12 days in the past. She mentioned she feels justice has lastly been served.
“Your phrases can damage, however your phrases can assist and heal additionally,” she informed media on the execution. “43 and 20. the variety of hearings and the variety of years I’ve attended for the reason that indictment.”
— Jimmy Jenkins
11:06 a.m.: Witness says Dixon gasped when medicine administered
Taylor Tasler, a media witness for KTAR mentioned Dixon by no means made eye contact with anybody through the execution. Dixon gasped after the medicine had been administered after which appeared like he went to sleep, she mentioned.
Dixon did seem to lose consciousness a couple of minutes after the injection, confirmed Troy Hayden, a media witness for Fox 10.
Hayden mentioned Dixon made a number of feedback to the medical doctors, insulted them by mocking their Hippocratic oath and mentioned they “worshipped dying.”
Witnesses mentioned there have been points inserting the IV. Dixon, who was 67, gave the impression to be in ache because the execution group tried to position the IV, ultimately placing it in his groin.
“I did see what gave the impression to be some reducing into the groin, they did need to wipe up a good quantity of blood,” mentioned Paul Davenport, a media witness for the Related Press.
— Jimmy Jenkins
10:51 a.m.: Dixon executed by deadly injection
Arizona has executed Dixon for the 1978 homicide of 21-year-old ASU pupil Bowdoin.
Frank Strada, deputy director of the Arizona Division of Corrections, confirmed the execution by deadly injection of Dixon befell at 10:30 a.m. on the state jail in Florence. Dixon was the primary man put to dying by Arizona for the reason that problematic execution of Wooden in 2014.
Dixon selected to make a last assertion: “I do and at all times will proclaim my innocence — now let’s do that shit.”
Troy Hayden, a media witness, mentioned the execution befell barely late — it was scheduled for 10 a.m. It took 25 minutes to place IVs in as a result of execution group had hassle and ended up inserting an IV into an alternate location, Hayden mentioned.
Dixon grimaced, Hayden mentioned, and gave the impression to be in ache whereas the IVs had been inserted.
Exterior, a gaggle of protesters began slowly dispersing when police started to go away, although some stayed again for official phrase of the execution.
One man was overheard saying, “I assume we simply return to life now, it’s bizarre.”
— Jimmy Jenkins, Chelsea Curtis Mike Cruz and P. Kim Bui
9:45 a.m.: Navajo Nation opposes dying penalty, execution of tribal member
Navajo Nation Lawyer Common Doreen McPaul in a letter final 12 months explaining the tribe’s place on Clarence Dixon’s case mentioned it opposed the dying penalty and execution of its tribal members.
Dixon is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, based on his legal professional and McPaul’s letter.
The letter dated June 6, 2021, got here two months after Arizona Lawyer Common Mark Brnovich announced the state’s intent to seek warrants of execution towards Dixon and fellow death-row prisoner Frank Atwood.
Two weeks after McPaul’s letter, Brnovich requested to expedite the boys’s executions, however his request was ultimately denied by the Arizona Supreme Court.
“Navajo tradition and faith holds each life sacred and instructs towards the taking of human life for punishment,” McPaul mentioned. “Committing a criminal offense not solely disrupts the concord between the sufferer/household and the perpetrator, however it additionally disrupts the concord of the group.
“The dying penalty removes the likelihood of restoring concord; whereas a life sentence holds the chance to reestablish concord and discover steadiness in our world,” she continued. “For these causes, the Navajo Nation submits its sturdy opposition to the execution of a Navajo tribal member by the State.”
McPaul went on to ask Brnovich to satisfy to debate the matter additional. It’s unclear if he accepted her supply.
The Navajo Nation has lengthy opposed the dying penalty and executions of tribal members. For years main as much as the 2020 federal execution of Lezmond Mitchell in Terre Haute, Indiana, tribal officials pleaded with the federal government to spare him. He was the primary Native American the federal authorities executed in fashionable historical past.
— Chelsea Curtis and Lauren Citadel
9:30 a.m.: Protesters outdoors jail
Protesters gathered outdoors the state jail in Florence the place Clarence Dixon is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. for the 1978 homicide of Deana Bowdoin.
Simply earlier than 9 a.m., folks quietly gathered close to Butte and Pinal Parkway avenues, with most carrying indicators decrying the execution.
Two separate drivers touring by way of the intersection shouted “Kill him” and obscenities as they handed the group of about 12 protesters outdoors the jail’s barbed fence. The protesters did not seem to react to shouts.
The gang was principally quiet, speaking with one another whereas holding indicators.
Rod McLeod, secretary of Demise Penalty Options for Arizona, mentioned the dying penalty was simply flawed.
“It’s a foul coverage, a foul legislation. We’d like to vary the legislation ultimately, that’s our final aim,” McLeod mentioned, including that there was no proof to indicate executions deter crime.
— Chelsea Curtis
9:15 a.m.: Supreme Courtroom denies keep
America Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday denied Clarence Dixon’s request for a keep of execution.
Dixon’s execution by deadly injection will proceed at 10 a.m. Arizona time.
— Jimmy Jenkins
9 a.m.: Clarence Dixon’s final meal
Clarence Dixon’s final meal consisted of Kentucky Fried Hen, a half pint of strawberry ice cream and a bottle of water, based on the Arizona Division of Corrections.
Dixon is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. Wednesday on the state jail in Florence.
He was convicted in 2008 for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old senior at Arizona State University.
— Jimmy Jenkins and Mike Cruz
8:30 a.m.: Makes an attempt to cease execution filed
Dixon has exhausted his appeals, however his attorneys in current weeks have filed a series of legal challenges accusing the state of planning to use expired drugs for his execution.
The legal professionals argued the state was counting on testing outcomes from older batches of compounded pentobarbital to show the medicine it was planning to make use of in Dixon’s execution this week had been secure and efficient. They claimed the earlier batch was compounded in February and expired in April.
The standard of the medicine was essential as a result of they may result in a chronic or ineffective execution in the event that they had been contaminated or not sufficiently potent, Dixon’s attorneys mentioned.
On Monday, the state produced a new batch of the drugs and offered Dixon’s group with testing outcomes relating to its efficiency.
“The end result right this moment signifies that Dixon’s execution will be carried out with medicine that aren’t expired, and in compliance with the Division of Corrections’ protocols, which is what we had been asking for,” mentioned assistant federal public defender Jen Moreno.
Attorneys for Dixon are pursuing separate authorized motion to cease the execution, asking the federal courts to evaluation an Arizona state court’s determination that he is mentally competent to be executed.
— Jimmy Jenkins and Chelsea Curtis
7:30 a.m.: First state execution since 2014
Clarence Dixon on Wednesday will turn out to be the primary particular person executed in Arizona since 2014 when the apply was suspended following the botched execution of Joseph Wooden.
The state’s deadly injection drug combine on the time was a cocktail of the Valium-like midazolam and a narcotic known as hydromorphone, ensuing in Wooden’s execution taking two hours. Witnesses mentioned Wooden might be seen repeatedly gasping for air.
The state was then pressured to overtake its procedures and discover a brand new accredited drug cocktail. In March 2021, the Department of Corrections announced it had acquired pentobarbital for lethal injections shifting ahead.
As a result of the crime Dixon was convicted of occurred earlier than 1992, when Arizona outlawed execution by deadly fuel, he has the selection between dying by deadly injection or the fuel chamber.
In response to the warrant of execution, Dixon should “notify the Division of Corrections no less than twenty calendar days previous to the date of execution.” If he doesn’t select, the court docket mentioned the dying penalty “shall be inflicted by deadly injection.”
Jennifer Moreno, Dixon’s legal professional, mentioned Arizona has a “historical past of problematic executions.”
“The State has had almost a 12 months to exhibit that it’ll not be finishing up executions with expired medicine however has failed to take action,” Moreno mentioned. “Below these circumstances, the execution of Mr. Dixon — a severely mentally ailing, visually disabled, and bodily frail member of the Navajo Nation — is unconscionable.”
— Jimmy Jenkins, Lacey Latch and Chelsea Curtis
6:30 a.m.: ‘I’ll by no means cease pondering of Deana’
Deana Bowdoin grew up within the Valley and graduated with honors from Camelback Excessive Faculty.
Whereas at ASU, she studied overseas and made many plans for her final semester and life after commencement. Bowdoin was contemplating a profession in legislation, worldwide advertising or diplomacy after taking the LSAT and the Overseas Service Officers exams.
However within the early hours of Jan. 7, 1978, she was discovered useless inside her house and her homicide would stay unsolved for greater than 20 years.
Who did Clarence Dixon kill? For 25 years, Deana Bowdoin’s killer was a mystery
It wasn’t till developments in DNA expertise that officers in 2001 may join Clarence Dixon to Bowdoin’s homicide. He pleaded not responsible at his arraignment listening to in January 2003 however was in the end convicted just a few years later.
Bowdoin was described by her sister Leslie James as “an attractive particular person, inside and outside.”
“I’ll by no means cease pondering of Deana,” James lately mentioned in a statement responding to news of Dixon’s execution warrant issued in early April. “However I look ahead to decision of Dixon’s legal matter by way of the imposition of punishment.”
“The final 44-plus years of reliving Deana’s brutal homicide in addition to enduring the trial and appellate litigation has been nothing wanting horrific for our household,” she later added. “As victims, the Arizona Structure ensures a immediate and last conclusion of this matter.”
— Jimmy Jenkins, Lauren Citadel and Chelsea Curtis
