This Wednesday, 8 June 2022, Frank Atwood was executed in Arizona by lethal injection. His original death penalty was issued in 1987 for the 1984 murder of 8 year old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson. He was the second person executed by the state of Arizona so far in 2022 after an 8 year old interruption in executions due to a legal dispute over the method of execution for the state to use and other logistical issues associated with the administration of death penalty.
A few weeks prior to Atwood's execution, on 11 May 2022, Clarence Dixon, 66, was executed for the 1978 rape and murder of 21 year old student named Deana Bowdoin. However, Dixon spent less time than Atwood on death row as his sentence was issued in 2008.
The evidence against Atwood was not bulletproof. There was physical evidence connecting his vehicle to the victim's bicycle but no direct evidence tying him to her death. So in my opinion sentencing him to death was questionable in that regard. The evidence against Dixon was more solid as not only was there DNA evidence tying him to the victim, but he also had a history of severe violence as by the time he was tied to the crime for which he was sentenced to death he was serving a life sentence for sexual assault.
I guess full disclosure is in order here: I am a solid abolitionist as I oppose death penalty as a matter of principle. I am, at the same time, a solid supporter of citizens' right to self defense, including self defense (and defense of others) involving deadly force. But I think even if you support death penalty you should not wish to execute anybody in whose case the evidence is the least bit lacking because, if nothing else, should it ever turn out they were not the culprit, it is mighty difficult to undo an execution.
But what these two stories speak to is the nonsensically long delays associated with the administration of death penalty. If anything, subjecting somebody to decades of life on death row is utterly inhumane. So I am fully convinced - if nothing else, we've got to either make the whole death penalty system more efficient, or do away with it. The latter would obviously be my preference.
Frank Atwood executed in Arizona for 1984 murder of 8-year-old girl
CBS News, 8 June 2022
Murder of Vicki Lynne Hoskinson (wiki)
Arizona executes man convicted in 1978 killing of college student
Associated Press/Guardian, 11 May 2022
