Clarence Dixon is scheduled to be executed at 10 am 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 would be the first person executed by Arizona since the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014.
Follow coverage from Republic reporters of the execution here.
For all of the latest news on the execution, download the free azcentral.com app.
For subscribers: As state resumes death penalty, former executioner tells his story
9:45 am: 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 from her.
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 am for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin.
Just before 9 am, 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 am 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 am 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
www.azcentral.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism