Arizona remains on track, at least for now, to use the death penalty for the first time in nearly eight years
By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press
19 April 2022, 21:23
• 4 min read
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PHOENIX — Arizona remains on track, at least for now, to use the death penalty for the first time in nearly eight years in an execution in which a condemned prisoner is being given the option of being put to death by the gas chamber — a method that hasn’t been used in the U.S. in decades.
Clarence Dixon’s warrant for execution sets a Thursday deadline for deciding whether he will be put to death with an injection of pentobarbital or with hydrogen cyanide gas for his murder conviction in the 1977 killing of Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin. Lethal injection is the default method if Dixon doesn’t make a choice.
The last gas chamber execution in the United States occurred in 1999 in Arizona before the country rejected the brutal nature of the deaths.
The execution is scheduled for May 11, though prosecutors have said it will likely be delayed if a judge goes forward with a May 3 hearing to determine whether Dixon is mentally fit to be executed.
One of Dixon’s legal efforts failed Monday when a judge dismissed his lawsuit that challenged the current makeup of the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency, arguing the board’s makeup violates a law that lets only two people from the “same professional discipline” serve on the board. Three board members worked previously in law enforcement.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Hopkins concluded Dixon’s lawyer used an extremely broad definition of “professional discipline” and pointed out the relevant law doesn’t use the words “job” or “employment” in context of the board’s membership.
The judge wrote Dixon’s lawyer failed to show there are more than two people on the board from the same discipline, explaining the three members who were previously employed in law…
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