CLARENCE DIXON EXECUTED IN ARIZONA (MAY 11, 2022)

Clarence Dixon (L) and Deana Bowdoin (R) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://lawandcrime.com/crime/judge-arizona-can-execute-man-who-raped-and-murdered-21-year-old-woman-just-two-days-after-acquittal-by-reason-of-insanity-in-a-different-assault-case-overseen-by-sandra-day-oconnor/]

            On this date, May 11, 2022, Clarence Wayne Dixon was executed by lethal injection in Arizona.  He was convicted of the January 6/7, 1978 rape and murder of 21-year-old Deanne Bowdoin.

Capital punishment is the law in Arizona and the appropriate response to those who commit the most shocking and vile murders. This is about the administration of justice and ensuring the last word still belongs to the innocent victims who can no longer speak for themselves. - Mark Brnovich

An Arizona man convicted of killing a college student in 1978 has become the first person to be executed in the state after a nearly eight-year hiatus in its use of the death penalty.

Clarence Wayne Dixon (August 26, 1955 – May 11, 2022) was an American convicted murderer. He was convicted of the January 7, 1978, murder of 21-year-old Deana Lynne Bowdoin in Tempe, Arizona. The murder went unsolved until 2001, when DNA profiling linked him to the crime. Dixon, who was serving a life sentence for a 1986 sexual assault conviction, was found guilty of Bowdoin's murder and was formally sentenced to death on January 24, 2008. He was executed by lethal injection on May 11, 2022, in the state's first execution in nearly eight years, since the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Dixon

Early life

Dixon was born on August 26, 1955, in Fort Defiance, Arizona. In 1974, he graduated from Chinle High School. In 1977, he went to Arizona State University to study engineering. The same year, he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon when he attacked a 15-year-old girl, whom Dixon would later claim reminded him of his ex-wife. Dixon hit the girl over the head with a metal pipe. A psychiatrist who examined Dixon concluded that he was not competent to stand trial.

Murder

On January 6, 1978, 21-year-old Deana Lynne Bowdoin, an Arizona State University senior, met her parents for dinner and then went to meet a friend at a nearby bar. The two stayed at the bar until midnight and then Bowdoin told her friend she was going home. Bowdoin returned to her apartment in Tempein the early hours of January 7. At around 2:00 a.m. Bowdoin's boyfriend returned to the apartment and found her dead body lying on the bed. Bowdoin had been strangled to death with a belt and had also been stabbed multiple times. Semen was found on her vagina and underwear, however, it could not be positively matched to any suspect.

Bowdoin's murder went unsolved for over twenty years and became a cold case. In 2001, a cold case detective checked the DNA profile against a national database. He learned that the profile matched Clarence Dixon, a man who was already in prison and was serving a life sentence in an Arizona state prison for a 1986 sexual-assault conviction. At the time of Bowdoin's murder, it was learned that Dixon had lived across the street from her. None of Bowdoin's family or friends knew of any connection between her and Dixon, however.

“As regards capital cases, the trouble is that emotional men and women always see only the individual whose fate is up at the moment, and neither his victim nor the many millions of unknown individuals who would in the long run be harmed by what they ask. Moreover, almost any criminal, however brutal, has usually some person, often a person whom he has greatly wronged, who will plead for him. If the mother is alive she will always come, and she cannot help feeling that the case in which she is so concerned is peculiar, that in this case a pardon should be granted. It was really heartrending to have to see the kinfolk and friends of murderers who were condemned to death, and among the very rare occasions when anything governmental or official caused me to lose sleep were times when I had to listen to some poor mother making a plea for a criminal so wicked, so utterly brutal and depraved, that it would have been a crime on my part to remit his punishment.”

Trial and appeals

Dixon was charged with the rape and murder of Bowdoin. However, the rape charge was later dropped due to a statute of limitations. On January 24, 2008, Dixon was found guilty of first degree murder and was sentenced to death.

Dixon's lawyers argued that he was mentally incompetent, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and had experienced frequent hallucinations throughout his life. In 2015, he was declared legally blind. Dixon had previously been found not guilty by reason of insanityin a 1977 assault case. The murder of Bowdoin had occurred only two days after the verdict.

Death warrant and final appeals

Following the botched execution of Joseph Wood via lethal injection in 2014, the state of Arizona stopped all executions. Lawsuits that were filed required the state to use a new lethal injection cocktail. Following a lengthy process, the state looked to find a new and approved drug for executions.

In 2020, the Arizona Department of Correctionspurchased one thousand vials of the drug pentobarbital, costing one and a half million dollars. In 2021, the state also announced it had refurbished its gas chamber, allowing inmates the option of being executed by lethal gas. In April 2021, the state announced it was ready to begin executions again. The first two inmates scheduled for execution were Dixon and fellow death row inmate Frank Jarvis Atwood. Atwood was scheduled for execution on September 28, 2021, while Dixon was scheduled for execution on October 19, 2021. However, the state later acknowledged that the lethal injection drugs they would be using in the executions would expire after forty-five days, having claimed previously that it expired after ninety days. Following the discovery, Arizona Attorney GeneralMark Brnovich asked the Arizona Supreme Court to shorten the briefing schedules for both executions. On July 12, 2021, the Arizona Supreme Court denied the request to speed up the executions, and they were both halted.

"In criminal law legislation, our priority is the security and well being of law-abiding citizens rather than the rights of the criminal to be protected from incriminating evidence."– Lee Kuan Yew

Execution

In January 2022, Brnovich asked the Arizona Supreme Court to set briefing schedules for the executions of Atwood and Dixon once again. Brnovich announced that additional testing had been conducted on the lethal injection drugs, and they would have a beyond-use date of at least ninety days. On April 5, 2022, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an execution warrant for Dixon, scheduling him for execution on May 11, 2022. Dixon was given the choice to be executed by lethal injection or lethal gas. On April 20, after declining to pick a method, the state announced that Dixon would be executed by lethal injection, the default method for an inmate who does not make a decision. On April 28, the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency denied Dixon's request for a commutation or a reprieve.

Dixon was executed by lethal injection on May 11, 2022, the first person to be put to death in Arizona since 2014. The injection began at 10:19 a.m. He was pronounced dead 11 minutes later at 10:30 a.m. Dixon maintained his innocence in his final statement.

If the criminal taking of a human life does not merit forfeiture of one's own life, then what value have we placed on the life taken? - Pat Buchanan

See also

• Capital punishment in Arizona
• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of most recent executions by jurisdiction
• List of people executed in Arizona
• List of people executed in the United States in 2022

Deana Lynne Bowdoin

Who was Deana Bowdoin, the victim of Arizona death row killer Clarence Dixon?

Rebekah L. Sanders

Deana Lynne Bowdoin, 21, was a senior at Arizona State University when she was killed in her apartment in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 1978.

Her murderer was unknown for years until DNA evidence linked Clarence Wayne Dixon to the crime.

Dixon was convicted three decades after her death. On May 11, 2022, he became the first man put to death by Arizona since the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014.

Following the execution of Clarence Dixon? Download the free azcentral.com app for the latest news.

Who was Deana Bowdoin?

Bowdoin was a few months shy of graduating with a degree in marketing management from the Tempe university.

She was an honor student and member of the international business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma. She was considering a career in law, international marketing or diplomacy after taking the LSAT and the Foreign Service Officers tests.

Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin studied abroad and dreamed of joining the foreign service before she was murdered in 1978.

A gifted poet, she had studied abroad in Spain, Mexico and Belgium and was a certified scuba diver. Her planner was filled with birthdays of loved ones, plans to go dancing at a local disco and a road trip to Guaymas, Mexico.

She exuded kindness, her sister Leslie Bowdoin James said.

"Whether the person was elderly or whether they were little kids, she just seemed to be able to talk and relate to them," James said.

Growing up in Phoenix, Bowdoin went to Squaw Peak Elementary and graduated with honors from Camelback High School. She was a debutante for the Phoenix Honors Cotillion in 1974 and was first runner-up for the organization’s Debutante of the Year academic award.

When was Deana Bowdoin last seen?

Bowdoin had dinner with her parents the evening before she was found dead. Her parents asked her to spend the night at home, but Bowdoin decided her apartment was the better option because she had to go to her part-time job at a law firm the next day.

After dinner, she met a friend at a nearby bar. Bowdoin was last seen alive at 12:30 a.m. leaving to drive to her apartment.

At 2 a.m., Bowdoin's boyfriend found her dead inside her bedroom. She had a belt around her neck, her right wrist had indentations and her clothing was disheveled. She had been strangled, raped and stabbed.

Who was Clarence Dixon?

Clarence Dixon was a former ASU student who lived across the street from Bowdoin.

He was married and started classes in 1976 but withdrew within a year due to mental illness. His issues with drug addiction and alcoholism led to divorce in 1978, according to court records.

Clarence Wayne Dixon, 52, was convicted and sentenced to death in the rape, stabbing and strangulation of 21-year-old Deana Bowdoin at her Tempe apartment in 1978.

Dixon, a member of the Navajo Nation, experienced abuse and severe health problems during his childhood on the reservation.

Dixon was born with inadequate oxygenation, which led to a congenital heart condition.

What happened after Dixon was released from a mental hospital?

Psychologists determined Dixon had schizophrenia and was unable to stand trial on charges stemming from hitting a woman on the head with a pipe in 1977. He was committed to Arizona State Hospital.

When his competency was restored, then-Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sandra Day O'Connor found him "not guilty by reason of insanity." But she ruled Dixon was so mentally ill and dangerous to the community that he should be civilly committed to the state hospital.

However, the County Attorney's Office and courts did not immediately begin commitment proceedings and released the inmate. Two days later, Dixon murdered Bowdoin.

Several months after Bowdoin's death, Dixon was sentenced for burglary and assault with a knife after attacking another woman in her Tempe apartment. Six years later, soon after he was released from prison, he raped a Northern Arizona University student who was out jogging and was sentenced to life in prison.

Did Bowdoin know her killer?

Bowdoin’s family and friends did not know of any previous contact between her and Dixon, according to court records.

How was Dixon caught?

More than 20 years passed before detectives suspected Dixon in Bowdoin's murder.

Tempe police detective Tom Magazzeni was looking into cold cases in the 1990s and using updated DNA technology. He ran evidence from Bowdoin's case through a new nationwide database.

It took a few years, but police were able to rule out Bowdoin's boyfriend.

An article about Deana Bowdoin's death published in The Arizona Republic on Jan. 8, 1978.

Then, in 2001, there was a match with Dixon.

Magazzeni realized Dixon was near Bowdoin's apartment at the time of the murder and had used a knife to assault the NAU student similar to one found at the scene in Tempe.

More:For 25 years, Deana Bowdoin's killer was a mystery. Then technology ID’d Clarence Dixon, a man who had been nearby all along

Who was Bowdoin's family?

Bowdoin's parents met in high school, graduated from ASU and had two daughters.

Leslie Bowdoin James, left, was 23 when her sister, Deana Lynne Bowdoin, right, was murdered at the age of 21. The sisters grew up in the Valley.

Her father Harold "Dean" worked at Honeywell and mother Beulah Ann, known as "Bobbie," was a second-grade teacher. Beulah Ann died in 2009, a year after Dixon was convicted, and Harold died in 2018.

James was 23 when her younger sister was murdered.

It diminishes the victims when people burn candles and mourn someone who has committed a heinous crime. People on death row are some of the worst individuals that appear on the face of the earth. The abolitionists refuse to acknowledge that evil exists and evil has to be put down. – Marc Klaas

James has attended every proceeding in her sister's case up to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, spoken against granting Dixon parole and written to Gov. Doug Ducey calling for "finality and justice for Deana."

"Leslie is the epitome of a good older sister," Magazzeni, the Tempe detective, said. "She has never forgotten Deana and she never will."

Controversy over Dixon's case

There were concerns about Dixon's mental health before the murder trial. The public defender investigated Dixon's social and mental health history and other lawyers looked into a possible insanity defense. But Dixon waived his rights to be evaluated for competency and have IQ testing.

The prisoner's mental state affected his trial, according to Dixon's federal public defender, who unsuccessfully appealed for a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

For instance, Dixon was allowed to fire his attorneys and represent himself, despite making legal arguments that were "purely delusion and lacked any basis in fact," his federal defender said.

Several years after the trial, psychologist Dr. John Toma evaluated Dixon. He diagnosed the inmate with "schizophrenia paranoid type, a psychotic disorder that means he suffers from disturbance in thought and perception."

Toma said the Department of Corrections also diagnosed Dixon as schizophrenic, in 1981, and found him to be "severely confused and disturbed." Toma said he believed Dixon was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of Bowdoin’s murder, but this evidence was never introduced in court.

Prosecutors disagreed that Dixon had an unfair opportunity in court. It was his choice how to conduct his trial and not present any mitigation, Maricopa County prosecutor Vince Imbordino said.

Dixon's attempts at clemency

The Arizona Board of Executive Clemency reviewed petitions from Dixon more than a dozen times and denied parole.

Dixon’s attorneys said their client lived with untreated paranoid schizophrenia virtually all of his adult life.

Attorneys requested a commutation to a life sentence or, at the very least, a reprieve that would postpone the execution while other legal action played out.

Leslie Bowdoin James, sister of Deana Bowdoin, speaks at a news briefing after the execution of inmate Clarence Dixon on May 11, 2022, at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence.

Bowdoin's sister told the board Dixon had made the choice to "punch, rape, stab and strangle to death my only sister."

"For me and my parents and for all the women brutalized by this inmate — for society — and most of all for my sister Deana — there is not one legal, social or moral imperative for recommending reprieve of commutation," James said.

In their last denial of clemency to Dixon, board members said he had failed to show remorse for his crimes and did not deserve mercy.

Arizona is set to execute Clarence Dixon for 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin

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Why was Dixon's execution delayed?

Following the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014, which left the double murderer snorting and gasping for nearly two hours, Arizona had not executed another inmate until Dixon.

The state for years faced lawsuits over execution protocols and struggled to obtain lethal drugs, even going as far as to attempt to illegally import a supply.

Dixon's execution by lethal injection took place on May 11.

Lauren Castle, Jimmy Jenkins, Chelsea Curtis, Lacey Latch and Laurie Roberts contributed.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=466863621910477&id=100057605302283

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/05/11/who-deana-bowdoin-victim-arizona-death-row-killer-clarence-dixon/9731885002/

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Clarence Dixon execution updates: Ducey says execution is justice served

Arizona Republic

Clarence Dixon was executed shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday at the state prison 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 found dead inside her apartment with a belt around her neck. 

The 66-year-old Dixon was the first person executed by Arizona since the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014.

"When I think of all the sweet, innocent people who suffer extreme pain and who die every day in this country, then the outpouring of sympathy for cold-blooded killers enrages me. Where is your (expletive deleted) sympathy for the good, the kind and the innocent? This fixation on murderers is a sickness, a putrefaction of the soul. It's the equivalent of someone spending all day mooning and cooing over a handful of human feces. Sick and abnormal." - Charley Reese

1 p.m.: Group aims to raise death penalty awareness

Most of the group of protesters appeared to either be a part of or working in coalition with Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona, a grassroots organization that aims to raise awareness about issues with the death penalty and seeks to abolish it.

The organization’s state advocacy director Kat Jutras said her frustration with Dixon’s execution in particular was his history of mental illness.

“The last 44 years he hasn’t had any adequate treatment or access and he’s been incarcerated during that time,” she said about 15 mins before his scheduled execution. “He’s not a danger to society, he’s more of a danger to himself. He’s enclosed in a room completely blind and has no idea what’s going on or what’s happening and they’re going to execute him today.”

“That type of frustration I think is powerful to use to continue our work as advocates because Clarence is not the only one, unfortunately, he had to be the first,” she continued.

Jessica MacTurk, a volunteer with the ACLU, went on to explain to the group her opposition to the death penalty “in all forms, for all people.”

“I am morally, religiously, constitutionally, financially opposed to the death penalty,” she said to on the group while holding a sign stating, “don’t kill for me.”

“It’s shocking to me that in this day and age that we’re still executing people in our country and that our punishment for murder is murder,” MacTurk continued.

— Chelsea Curtis 

Today we are one step closer to justice for 8-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson and 21-year-old Deana Bowdoin and their families. We filed motions with the Arizona Supreme Court requesting to move forward with the executions of their killers. http://AZAG.info/dppr- Mark Brnovich

12:30 p.m.: Ducey, Brnovich release statements on execution 

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued a statement following Dixon’s execution, calling it justice served. 

“Today the family of Deana Bowdoin was provided the justice they've long been waiting for,” the governor’s statement reads. “The void left by Deana's murder 44 years ago will never be filled, but the sentence carried out this morning is a solemn reminder that we are a nation of laws and it is the responsibility of the state to enforce them.” 

Dixon’s death was the first execution carried out during Ducey’s tenure, and occurred Wednesday while the Republican governor was in Washington, D.C., for a series of meetings with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.  

The last execution in 2014 was during the final six months of former Gov. Jan Brewer’s leadership and preceded Ducey’s election by four months. Because of legal challenges over the state’s use of capital punishment, Ducey was largely not forced to address the controversial issue, at least not frequently. In 2019, he signed a bill into law limiting the circumstances under which the state could seek the death penalty. 

Ducey typically framed capital punishment in legal terms, as a duty required by the laws of the state he leads. He echoed that belief in his Wednesday statement, and last week to a gathering of reporters at an unrelated event, adding that “in certain situations, the death penalty is justice.”  

Attorney General Mark Brnovich also released a statement, echoing Ducey's statements about justice.

“Prosecutors have a solemn responsibility to speak on behalf of all victims, and especially for those who can no longer speak for themselves,” said Brnovich. “My focus was on securing justice for Deana Bowdoin, her family, and our communities, and that has been achieved today.”

— Stacey Barchenger and P. Kim Bui

Those who allow violent criminals the opportunity to kill, maim and rape, share the responsibility for it and the tragedy such crimes produce. More, they allow these monsters to create for all of us a world as dark and evil as their own.

11:36 a.m.: 'He’s a member of the Navajo Nation and deserved to live'

Just outside the state prison in Florence, a small group of just more than a dozen protesters gathered.

Most of the group of protesters appeared to either be a part of or working in coalition with Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona, a grassroots organization that aims to raise awareness about issues with the death penalty and seeks to abolish it. People held signs with statements like "an eye for an eye leaves the world blind." A few cars drove by, shouting expletives or yelling, "Justice for Deana."

The group remained mostly quiet until about 10 a.m. when they gathered closer together and took turns speaking into a mic as Dixon was due to be executed. Deacon Bill Drobick, of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Florence, led the group in the Lord’s Prayer.

"Clarence has a very well documented record of mental illness, severe mental illness …and the last 44 years he hasn’t had any adequate treatment or access and he’s been incarcerated during that time. He’s not a danger to society, he’s more of a danger to himself," Kat Jutras, state advocacy director of Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona, said about 15 minutes before the execution was scheduled to begin. 

"That’s type of frustration I think is powerful to use to continue our work as advocates because Clarence is not the only one, unfortunately, he had to be the first.” 

Jutras also mentioned that Dixon is a member of the Navajo Nation.

“He’s a member of the Navajo Nation and deserved to live,” she said. “He deserved to have a life despite what he did in his past and I think that we’re all here to offer our love to the victim and our condolences for what they’ve experienced over this 44-year period of time.”

— Chelsea Curtis

Leslie Bowdoin James, Deana Bowdoin's sister, was at Clarence Dixon's execution.

11:36 a.m.: Deana Bowdoin's family reacts

Leslie Bowdoin James, Deana Bowdoin's sister, was at Clarence Dixon's execution. She said the event was not closure, but it provided finality.

"This is finality for this process. It's relief. It was way, way, way too long," she said. "Why am I not surprised that (Dixon) chose to use my sister's name?"

Colleen Clase, chief counsel for Arizona Voice For Crime Victims and Bowdoin James' lawyer, said the family continually sought justice for Deana.

"Dixon was afforded every possible due process remedy," she said. "Leslie never gave up seeking justice for Deana."

The process has been long and grueling for Bowdoin James, who told media her husband just died 12 days ago. She said she feels justice has finally been served.

"Your words can hurt, but your words can help and heal also," she told media at the execution. "43 and 20. the number of hearings and the number of years I have attended since the indictment."

— Jimmy Jenkins

11:06 a.m.: Witness says Dixon gasped when drugs administered

Taylor Tasler, a media witness for KTAR said Dixon never made eye contact with anyone during the execution. Dixon gasped after the drugs were administered and then looked like he went to sleep, she said.

Dixon did appear to lose consciousness a few minutes after the injection, confirmed Troy Hayden, a media witness for Fox 10.

Hayden said Dixon made several comments to the doctors, insulted them by mocking their Hippocratic oath and said they "worshipped death."

Witnesses said there were issues inserting the IV. Dixon, who was 67, appeared to be in pain as the execution team tried to place the IV, eventually putting it in his groin.

"I did see what appeared to be some cutting into the groin, they did have to wipe up a fair amount of blood," said Paul Davenport, a media witness for the Associated Press.

— Jimmy Jenkins

10:51 a.m.: Dixon executed by lethal injection

Arizona has executed Dixon for the 1978 murder of 21-year-old ASU student Bowdoin. 

Frank Strada, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, confirmed the execution by lethal injection of Dixon took place at 10:30 a.m. at the state prison in Florence. Dixon was the first man put to death by Arizona since the problematic execution of Wood in 2014.

Dixon chose to make a final statement: "I do and always will proclaim my innocence — now let's do this shit."

Troy Hayden, a media witness, said the execution took place slightly late — it was scheduled for 10 a.m. It took 25 minutes to put IVs in because execution team had trouble and ended up inserting an IV into an alternate location, Hayden said.

Dixon grimaced, Hayden said, and appeared to be in pain while the IVs were inserted.

Outside, a group of protesters started slowly dispersing when police began to leave, though some stayed back for official word of the execution.

One man was overheard saying, “I guess we just go back to life now, it’s weird.” 

— Jimmy Jenkins, Chelsea Curtis Mike Cruz and P. Kim Bui

We do not need psychologists to tell us the simple truth that if you reward bad behaviour you will get more of it. We should not be surprised that we are now engulfed in crime. The offenders have taken their cue from us.

9:45 a.m.: Navajo Nation opposes death penalty, execution of tribal member

Navajo Nation Attorney General Doreen McPaul in a letter last year explaining the tribe's position on Clarence Dixon's case said it opposed the death penalty and execution of its tribal members. 

Dixon is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, according to his attorney and McPaul's letter. 

The letter dated June 6, 2021, came two months after Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced the state's intent to seek warrants of execution against Dixon and fellow death-row prisoner Frank Atwood.

Two weeks after McPaul's letter, Brnovich asked to expedite the men's executions, but his request was ultimately denied by the Arizona Supreme Court.

"Navajo culture and religion holds every life sacred and instructs against the taking of human life for punishment," McPaul said. "Committing a crime not only disrupts the harmony between the victim/family and the perpetrator, but it also disrupts the harmony of the community.

"The death penalty removes the possibility of restoring harmony; whereas a life sentence holds the opportunity to reestablish harmony and find balance in our world," she continued. "For these reasons, the Navajo Nation submits its strong opposition to the execution of a Navajo tribal member by the State."

McPaul went on to invite Brnovich to meet to discuss the matter further. It is unclear if he accepted her offer. 

The Navajo Nation has long opposed the death penalty and executions of tribal members. For years leading up to the 2020 federal execution of Lezmond Mitchell in Terre Haute, Indiana, tribal officials pleaded with the federal government to spare him. He was the first Native American the federal government executed in modern history. 

— Chelsea Curtis and Lauren Castle

9:30 a.m.: Protesters outside prison

Protesters gathered outside the state prison in Florence where Clarence Dixon is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin.

Just before 9 a.m., people quietly gathered near Butte and Pinal Parkway avenues, with most carrying signs decrying the execution.

Two separate drivers traveling through the intersection shouted “Kill him” and obscenities as they passed the group of about 12 protesters outside the prison’s barbed fence. The protesters didn't appear to react to shouts.

The crowd was mostly quiet, talking with each other while holding signs. 

Rod McLeod, secretary of Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona, said the death penalty was just wrong.

“It’s a bad policy, a bad law. We’d like to change the law eventually, that’s our ultimate goal,” McLeod said, adding that there was no evidence to show executions deter crime.

— Chelsea Curtis

9:15 a.m.: Supreme Court denies stay

The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Clarence Dixon's request for a stay of execution.

Dixon's execution by lethal injection will proceed at 10 a.m. Arizona time.

— Jimmy Jenkins

9 a.m.: Clarence Dixon's last meal

Clarence Dixon's last meal consisted of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a half pint of strawberry ice cream and a bottle of water, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections. 

Dixon is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the state prison 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.: Attempts to stop execution filed

Dixon has exhausted his appeals, but his attorneys in recent weeks have filed a series of legal challenges accusing the state of planning to use expired drugs for his execution. 

The lawyers argued the state was relying on testing results from older batches of compounded pentobarbital to prove the drugs it was planning to use in Dixon’s execution this week were safe and effective. They claimed the previous batch was compounded in February and expired in April. 

The quality of the drugs was important because they could lead to a prolonged or ineffective execution if they were contaminated or not sufficiently potent, Dixon's attorneys said. 

On Monday, the state produced a new batch of the drugs and provided Dixon's team with testing results regarding its potency. 

“The result today means that Dixon’s execution will be carried out with drugs that are not expired, and in compliance with the Department of Corrections’ protocols, which is what we had been asking for,” said assistant federal public defender Jen Moreno.

Attorneys for Dixon are pursuing separate legal action to stop the execution, asking the federal courts to review 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 become the first person executed in Arizona since 2014 when the practice was suspended following the botched execution of Joseph Wood. 

The state's lethal injection drug mix at the time was a cocktail of the Valium-like midazolam and a narcotic called hydromorphone, resulting in Wood's execution taking two hours. Witnesses said Wood could be seen repeatedly gasping for air.

The state was then forced to overhaul its procedures and find a new approved drug cocktail. In March 2021, the Department of Corrections announced it had acquired pentobarbital for lethal injections moving forward. 

Because the crime Dixon was convicted of occurred before 1992, when Arizona outlawed execution by lethal gas, he has the choice between death by lethal injection or the gas chamber.

According to the warrant of execution, Dixon must "notify the Department of Corrections at least twenty calendar days prior to the date of execution." If he does not choose, the court said the death penalty "shall be inflicted by lethal injection."

Jennifer Moreno, Dixon's attorney, said Arizona has a "history of problematic executions."

"The State has had nearly a year to demonstrate that it will not be carrying out executions with expired drugs but has failed to do so," Moreno said. "Under these circumstances, the execution of Mr. Dixon — a severely mentally ill, visually disabled, and physically frail member of the Navajo Nation — is unconscionable.”

— Jimmy Jenkins, Lacey Latch and Chelsea Curtis

6:30 a.m.: 'I will never stop thinking of Deana'

Deana Bowdoin grew up in the Valley and graduated with honors from Camelback High School. 

While at ASU, she studied abroad and made many plans for her last semester and life after graduation. Bowdoin was considering a career in law, international marketing or diplomacy after taking the LSAT and the Foreign Service Officers tests. 

But in the early hours of Jan. 7, 1978, she was found dead inside her apartment and her murder would remain unsolved for more than 20 years.

Who did Clarence Dixon kill? For 25 years, Deana Bowdoin's killer was a mystery

It wasn't until advancements in DNA technology that officials in 2001 could connect Clarence Dixon to Bowdoin's murder. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing in January 2003 but was ultimately convicted a few years later. 

Bowdoin was described by her sister Leslie James as "a beautiful person, inside and out."

"I will never stop thinking of Deana," James recently said in a statement responding to news of Dixon's execution warrant issued in early April. "But I look forward to resolution of Dixon’s criminal matter through the imposition of punishment."

"The last 44-plus years of reliving Deana’s brutal murder as well as enduring the trial and appellate litigation has been nothing short of horrific for our family," she later added. "As victims, the Arizona Constitution guarantees a prompt and final conclusion of this matter."

— Jimmy Jenkins, Lauren Castle and Chelsea Curtis

INTERNET SOURCE:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/05/11/execution-death-row-inmate-clarence-dixon-arizona-updates-protests/9710466002/

Deana Bowdoin (right), a 21-year-old Arizona State University student, was murdered in 1978, and Dixon (left) was found guilty in 2008.

‘Let’s do this s**t,’ Clarence Dixon’s final words to his victim were, “Let’s do this s**t.”

Micheal Kurt

Clarence Dixon, a death row inmate, was executed by lethal injection on May 11 at Florence State Prison in Arizona after his final appeal to the Supreme Court was denied. The 66-year-old was executed at 10:30 a.m. local time, according to Deputy Corrections Director Frank Strada.

According to Strada, the defiant Dixon said in his last statement, “I do and always proclaim my innocence – now let’s do this s**t.” Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old Arizona State University student, was murdered in 1978, and Dixon was found guilty in 2008. According to authorities, Bowdoin was raped, stabbed, and strangled with a belt when she was discovered dead in her Tempe home.

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The homicide remаined unsolved until 2001, when DNA fingerprinting linked Dixon to the crime. Initiаlly, Dixon, аn ASU student who lived аcross the street from Bowdoin аt the time, wаs аccused of rаpping her. Due to the pаssаge of time, the chаrge wаs lаter dropped. He wаs found guilty of her murder аnd sentenced to deаth in 2008.

According to witnesses, Dixon never mаde eye contаct with аnyone during his execution.KTAR TVTаylor Tаsler, а witness, sаid she heаrd him gаsp аfter the drugs were аdministered аnd then pаss out.

Before being executed, Dixon requested Kentucky Fried Chicken, а hаlf-pint of strаwberry ice creаm, аnd а bottle of wаter for his lаst meаl. He аllegedly insulted the doctors аnd sаid things like “they worshipped deаth” аnd mocked their Hippocrаtic Oаth. The convict mentioned victim Bowdoin in his closing remаrks. “I know you’re seeing this Deаnа,” Tаsler аllegedly sаid, “you know I didn’t kill you.”

Dixon is the sixth inmаte to be executed in the United Stаtes this yeаr. In recent weeks, Dixon’s lаwyers hаve been pleаding with the courts to postpone his execution. Despite this, judges dismissed clаims thаt he wаs mentаlly unfit for execution аnd thаt he hаd no rаtionаl understаnding of why the stаte wаnted to put him to deаth. Dixon declined to be executed by gаs chаmber аfter Arizonа’s gаs chаmber wаs repаired in lаte 2020, а method thаt hаsn’t been used in the United Stаtes in more thаn two decаdes.

“Todаy, the process hаs been finаlized,” Bowdoin’s sister, Leslie Bowdoin Jаmes, sаid аt the scene. “43 аnd 20,” she replied, referring to the number of heаrings аnd yeаrs she hаs аttended since the indictment. Jаmes stаted thаt the execution wаs аbout justice rаther thаn closure, аnd thаt it hаd been а significаnt pаrt of her life, but not аll of it.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://technotrenz.com/news/lets-do-this-st-clarence-dixons-final-words-to-his-victim-were-lets-do-this-st-1888271.html

Deana Lynne Bowdoin

RELATED LINKS:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/37085556/deana-lynne-bowdoin

OTHER LINKS:

Family of Murder Victims Ream Media Over Concern for Executed Arizona Murderer

https://vk.com/video-184585082_456239036

VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc6fBY-BbQE

https://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2016/08/in-loving-memory-of-debra-and-eugene.html