Arizona executes Frank Atwood in murder of Vicki Lynne Hoskinson
The state of Arizona executed Frank Atwood by deadly injection Wednesday on the state jail in Florence. Atwood, 66, was sentenced in 1987 for the kidnapping and murder of an 8-year-old woman in Pima County, Vicki Lynne Hoskinson.
Atwood was the the second man put to loss of life by the state after the botched 2014 execution of Joseph Wood led to courtroom motion that resulted in a seven-year moratorium.
“Today marks final justice for our daughter Vicki Lynne. Our family has waited 37 years, eight months and 22 days for this day to come,” Debbie Carlson, Vicki Lynne’s mom, stated whereas choking again tears throughout the media briefing following the execution. “Vicki was a vibrant little girl with an infectious laugh and a smile that would melt your heart.”
Atwood was sedated at 10:10 a.m. and was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m., media witnesses said.
According to Frank Strada, Arizona Department of Corrections director, this is Frank Atwood’s final statement:
“Thank you, precious father, for coming today and shepherding me into faith. I want to thank my beautiful wife who has loved me with everything she has. I want to thank my friends and legal team, and most of all, Jesus Christ through this unfair judicial process that led to my salvation. I pray the Lord will have mercy on all of us and that the Lord will have mercy on me.”
Approximately 40 folks had been current throughout Atwood’s execution — amongst them Carlson and Rachel Atwood, Frank Atwood’s spouse.
According to media witness Bud Foster, Atwood’s priest was in the execution room with him — a primary for the state. He added that this execution was “probably the most peaceful” he has witnessed.
Clarence Dixon was executed on May 11 for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old senior at Arizona State University.
On Wednesday morning, the United States Supreme Court denied Atwood’s request for a keep of execution.
Attorneys for Atwood filed quite a few authorized challenges alleging each decisions for the strategy of execution — deadly injection or the gasoline chamber — had been unconstitutional, and would trigger Atwood an excruciating quantity of ache.
Death row updates:Republic reporters cover the Atwood execution from the Florence jail
Atwood is in a wheelchair and suffered from a spinal situation, and his attorneys stated restraining him to a gurney would exacerbate the situation and consequence in insufferable ache.
The state responded to these considerations by agreeing to supply a tool that will brace Atwood whereas on the gurney.
While Atwood proposed the use of nitrogen gasoline as his most well-liked technique of execution, the courts dominated the Arizona Department of Correction’s protocols utilizing cyanide had been acceptable, and stated Atwood didn’t have that selection.
A have a look at his sufferer:Who was Vicki Lynne Hoskinson, sufferer of Arizona loss of life row inmate Frank Atwood?
Atwood was profitable in getting the division to alter its coverage relating to the presence of religious advisers. Atwood transformed to grow to be Greek Orthodox whereas in jail.
Agreement over religious adviser’s entry throughout execution
His religious adviser, Father Paisios, instructed the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency in May that he was sure Atwood had skilled a “complete transformation of life,” and such a conversion cannot be feigned.
Paisios said the authenticity of Atwood’s faith was to a degree that he had not seen among hundreds of others who had come to him. He said Atwood “unfailingly followed my instructions” and stored to a day by day routine of prayer.
For subscribers: As Arizona resumes the loss of life penalty, a former executioner tells his story
Department of Corrections execution protocols allowed for a religious adviser or consultant to talk with the prisoner in the loss of life chamber from one other room by way of microphone, however did not permit them to be in the identical room because the prisoner.
In a authorized criticism, Atwood’s attorneys stated the protocols violated his rights below the institution and free train clauses of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
In response, the Department of Corrections got here to an settlement with Atwood and the district courtroom issued a preliminary injunction specifying particular lodging for his non secular train requests.
Atwood’s lawyer, Joseph Perkovich, stated the division complied with the injunction, and allowed non secular advisers to go to Atwood on Tuesday morning to carry out a ceremony, referred to as a tonsure, involving chopping a lock of his hair and making Atwood a monk.
The injunction gives for particular lodging throughout the execution as effectively. Atwood’s religious adviser will probably be allowed to accompany him to the execution chamber and lay his palms on him.
The injunction states: “ADCRR may require Plaintiff’s spiritual advisor to comply with all lawful directives of ADCRR personnel to: (a) touch Plaintiff only on the head; (b) stand in a location that gives the medical team an unobstructed view of the IV lines; (c) terminate touching Plaintiff during critical points in the execution process, such as during insertion of the IV line; and (d) immediately leave the lethal injection chamber upon ADCRR personnel determining that he has failed to comply with any of these requirements.”
Atwood’s religious adviser will even be capable of pray audibly however may have to stay silent throughout “critical points” of the execution course of, based on the injunction.
Have a information tip on Arizona prisons? Reach the reporter at [email protected] or at 812-243-5582. Follow him on Twitter @JimmyJenkins.
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