What you need to know about Arizona's death row, its history of executions and failures

Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic

August 30, 2022 at 4:51 PM·5 min read

Convicted killer Frank Atwood was put to death on June 8, making him the second person to be executed in Arizona in less than a month.

Atwood died by lethal injection for the 1984 kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson.

He is the 39th person executed by the state since 1992.

Here is what you need to know about the state's history of executions, including three infamously botched ones.

When was the last execution in Arizona?

Clarence Dixon, 66, was put to death by lethal injection on May 11. He was the first person put to death since 2014, when the state suspended executions after an inmate died in an excruciating manner.

Dixon was convicted in 2008 for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old senior at Arizona State University.

What happened during the botched 2014 execution?

The state suspended executions in 2014 after an inmate was given a lethal injection and died horrifically in front of shocked witnesses.

Joseph Wood snorted and gasped for air for nearly two hours as his lawyers attempted to reach Arizona judges and halt the execution. The manner of his death led to lawsuits and a suspension of executions. It required the state to adopt a new lethal injection cocktail and go through a lengthy process to find approved drugs.

Did the state fix the problem with lethal injection drugs?

Lawyers for Dixon and another death row inmate in 2021 accused the state of attempting to use expired drugs in its lethal injection cocktail.

The Arizona Department of Corrections ordered the creation of a new batch of lethal injection drugs just two days before Dixon was put to death.

Does Arizona still use the gas chamber?

Yes and no. Arizona abolished the gas chamber after another controversial execution in 1992. But Arizona law lets inmates convicted of death penalty offenses before November 1992 choose how they want to die: gas or lethal injection.

The last inmate to opt for the gas chamber over lethal injection was Walter LaGrand in 1999.

Was there a botched execution in 1992?

Donald Harding took 11 minutes to die as he cursed and gestured at then-Attorney General Grant Woods. As a result, the public overwhelmingly sought to end death by lethal gas.

Death penalty protesters: Advocacy groups hold vigils for Clarence Dixon

Did the state really buy the same gas used at Auschwitz?

As the state prepared to resume executions in 2021, records showed state officials purchased a different type of cyanide than the one called for in newly published protocols for administering a gas chamber execution.

Officials bought potassium cyanide instead of sodium cyanide. The Guardian newspaper reported the state was planning to kill inmates using "the same lethal gas that was deployed at Auschwitz."

Does Arizona have a death row?

It actually has three; two for men in Florence and one for women near Goodyear.

Men are housed at the Browning Unit at Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman and at the Central Unit at Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence. Women are housed at the Lumley Unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville.

Where are inmates executed in Arizona?

All executions are performed in Central Unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry.

How many people are facing the death penalty in Arizona?

Dixon's execution leaves 112 facing the death penalty in Arizona.

How many women are on Death Row?

Three. Sammantha Uriarte, Shawna Forde and Wendi Andriano.

Uriarte, who also used the name Samantha Allen, was convicted in 2017 for murdering her 10-year-old cousin. She locked the girl in a plastic lockbox as a form of punishment. The girl suffocated.

Forde was convicted for the 2009 murders of a 29-year-old man and his 9-year-old daughter. Forde, a border activist, shot the victims in a home invasion. She and her accomplices thought they were robbing drug dealers to fund militia activities. There were no drugs or money.

Andriano was convicted in 2004 for bludgeoning her cancer-stricken husband with a bar stool and then stabbing him.

Has a woman ever been executed in Arizona?

Yes. In 1930, Eva Dugan was hanged for the 1927 murder of a Tucson rancher. She was the first woman executed in the state.

Didn't her hanging go horribly wrong?

Published accounts of Dugan's execution report that she was decapitated by the noose after falling 6 feet through a trap door.

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When was Arizona's first official execution?

Jose Lopez was the first individual executed by hanging at Florence on Jan. 5, 1910. According to The Arizona Department of Corrections website, 27 others were hanged between 1910 and 1931.

When did Arizona switch from hanging to gas?

In 1934, the state used lethal gas for the first time, executing two brothers, Manuel and Fred Hernandez. The brothers were convicted of killing a miner during a robbery in Casa Grande.

Why did Arizona suspend executions for 30 years?

In 1962, Manuel Silvas became the last inmate executed in Arizona until 1992.

Courts and the legislature debated the Constitutionality of the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that executions violated the Constitution, leaving states trying to enact new laws.

Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter for The Republic. Reach him at robert.anglen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8694. Follow him on Twitter @robertanglen