08 June 2022 :
Arizona
Frank Atwood, 66, White, was executed. Atwood was sentenced to death in 1987 for the killing of 8-year-old Vicki Lynn Hoskinson, who went missing on September 17, 1984, while riding her bike in Tucson.
He was sedated at 10:10 a.m. and was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m.
According to media witness Bud Foster, Atwood's priest was in the execution room with him — a first for the state. He added that this execution was "probably the most peaceful" he has witnessed.
Authorities said Atwood kidnapped and killed the girl. Her remains were discovered in the desert in April 1985.
Atwood has maintained his innocence and his attorneys had made several bids to have the execution halted in recent weeks.
They made a request to the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his execution after a lower court rejected arguments that the execution should be stopped because Atwood's degenerative spinal condition would make it excruciatingly painful for him to be strapped on his back to the gurney he will have to lie on during the lethal injection.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted that accommodations made by the state, including allowing a pillow and tilting feature on the gurney to be used to prop up Atwood, would alleviate his pain.
Atwood becomes the 2nd inmate to be put to death this year in Arizona and the 39th overall since Arizona resumed capital punishment in 1992. Dixon becomes the 7th inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,547th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
