ABC15 in Phoenix offers additional coverage of the Arizona Supreme Court’s order denying the Attorney General’s request to modify the briefing schedule on their planned motion for execution warrants for Clarence Dixon and Frank Atwood. Read the article here.
Archive for July, 2021
The Arizona Supreme Court has denied the State’s request to modify the briefing schedule for its motions for execution warrants in the cases of Clarence Dixon and Frank Atwood. The court also vacated the briefing schedule and ordered that the state may renew its request after it completes specialized testing of the compounded pentobarbital. Media coverage is below.
https://kjzz.org/content/1698805/arizona-supreme-court-postpones-executions-sought-attorney-general
https://www.kold.com/2021/07/12/arizona-supreme-court-state-cant-rush-execution-long-standing-death-row-inmates/
July 12, 2021
TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) – The Arizona Supreme Court made several rulings on Monday, July 12 that would prevent the state from executing two death row inmates until it can prove the execution would not violate the inmates’ constitutional rights.
The Supreme Court denied the Arizona Attorney General’s requests to speed up the executions of Frank Atwood and Clarence Dixon who had each been on death row for decades. The Supreme Court’s decision cited the state’s revelation that it had relied on false information about the shelf life of its execution drugs. The Supreme Court also granted both inmates’ requests to vacate the briefing schedule established in May.
Dale Baich, an attorney of Dixon’s, said in a news release the state had a “problematic” history of handling prescription drugs, including the 2014 execution of Joseph Wood, during which the combination of drugs did not work as intended, and the state’s attempt to illegally import foreign execution drugs the following year.
“In order to prevent this troubling history from repeating itself, Arizona must stop its attempt to rush executions,” Baich was quoted as saying.
The state in June refurbished its gas chamber after a seven-year hiatus and bought the materials to make hydrogen cyanide, drawing criticism due to the chemical’s use by Nazi’s to kill 865,000 in Auschwitz concentration camp. The state also struggled to obtain suppliers for the executions, but revealed this spring it had gotten a shipment of pentobarbital.
The Supreme Court in May granted the state’s request for a briefing schedule for to issue a warrant for Dixon’s execution. The state sought the briefing schedule based on the belief that the drugs would have a 90-day shelf life. During the next month, the state asked to shorten the schedule, now arguing that the drugs’ shelf life was 45-days and Dixon needed to be executed before they expired.
The shortened schedule would have denied Dixon sufficient time to respond to the state’s request for an execution warrant, his attorneys said in a news release.
State prosecutors initially asked that Dixon be executed in September, but because of state law, the execution would have likely been set the month after.
Atwood was sentenced to death after he kidnapped and murdered 8-year-old Vicky Lynn Hoskinson in 1984. Dixon was sentenced for the 1978 murder of 21-year-old Deana Bowdoin in Maricopa County.
An attempt Monday to reach the Attorney General’s Office for a response to the rulings was not immediately successful.
Attorneys ask court to reject request to expedite hearings for Arizona death row inmates
By Lacey Latch, July 7, 2021
Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article misstated the plans for the executions of two death row inmates. The state of Arizona has requested two dates for executions, but those had yet to be scheduled.
Attorneys for death row inmate Clarence Dixon have filed an objection to Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s request to expedite the execution schedules for Dixon and another convicted murderer, Frank Atwood, after the state acknowledged the lethal injection drug would expire sooner than previously announced.
Instead of the 90-day shelf-life previously claimed by the state, the lethal injection drug only maintains its potency for up to 45 days after it is compounded. That happens shortly after an official warrant for execution is issued.
The shortened shelf-life of the drug limits the time available for the state to file an execution warrant, test the drug and carry out the death sentence. As a result, the Attorney General’s Office proposed that the court expedite the hearing schedules for the two inmates to complete the executions as scheduled.
Doing so also would decrease the amount of time the men have to respond to filings and seek legal options regarding their executions.
“The State of Arizona has full control over its execution drugs, and it sought the original briefing schedule based on information received from its own pharmacist,” said Dale Baich, one of Dixon’s attorneys. “The state now says that pharmacist was wrong. This is not the first time Arizona has had problems with execution drugs.”
The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment on the filing.
Why gas chamber is an option
All filings in the case were submitted to the Arizona Supreme Court.
This legal battle is the latest in a series of issues the state has had with execution drugs. Most recently, as Arizona prepares to possibly resume use of a gas chamber, an investigation found that state officials had bought the wrong type of cyanide than the one called for in newly published protocols.
While Arizona voters banned the use of the gas chamber nearly 30 years ago, state law still allows for inmates whose crimes were committed prior to the change in 1992 to choose their manner of execution, whether by gas or lethal injection. This includes both Dixon and Atwood, whose crimes were committed in 1978 and 1984, respectively.
The state wants to schedule Atwood’s execution for Sept. 28 and set Dixon’s execution for a few weeks later, on Oct. 19. Neither man has publicly discussed their manner of death decision but they each must declare their choice at least 20 days prior to their execution date.
Botched execution, illegal imports
Part of the reason the potency of the drug is a major focus is the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014. After two hours of gulping for air as 15 doses of the drug coursed through his veins and his lawyers searched for a judge to stay the execution, Wood ultimately succumbed to the toxic chemicals and the state faced severe backlash as a result.
Arizona was forced to temporarily suspend executions and overhaul protocols and procedures, including adopting a new drug cocktail and enduring the lengthy process of finding an approved drug.
Both before and after Wood’s death brought national attention to the state’s execution practices, Arizona tried to illegally import execution drugs. In 2010, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration confiscated drugs bound for several states including Arizona.
Five years later the Arizona Department of Corrections paid almost $27,000 to import an illegal execution drug that was confiscated by federal authorities.
