Entries tagged with “Frank Atwood”
Executions
Executions Overview
,Botched Executions
,Lethal Injection
,Jan 17, 2023
Tennessee Gov. Says No Death Warrants Until Execution Protocol Problems Fixed
Tennessee will not resume executions until it fixes systemic problems with the administration of its execution protocol, Governor Bill Lee has announced. “It’s a very important issue that has to be done correctly,” Lee told reporters on January 5, 2023. “And we will take the time to fix the protocol and to make certain that we don’t move forward until everything’s in…
Facts & Research
History of the Death Penalty
,Botched Executions
,Lethal Injection
,Dec 07, 2022
As Lethal Injection Turns Forty, States Botch a Record Number of Executions
On December 7, 1982, Texas strapped Charles Brooks to a gurney, inserted an intravenous line into his arm, and injected a lethal dose of sodium thiopental into his veins, launching the lethal-injection era of American executions. In the precisely forty years since, U.S. states and the federal government have put 1377 prisoners to death by some version of the method. Touted as swift and painless and a more humane way to die — just as execution proponents had said nearly a century before about…
Executions
Botched Executions
,Lethal Injection
,Jun 15, 2022
Witness: In ‘Surreal’ Event, Possibly Innocent Death-Row Prisoner Helped Arizona Executioners Find a Vein After They Failed to Set IV Line
At his June 8, 2022 execution in Arizona, Frank Atwood helped prison officials find a suitable vein for the IV line that would administer the lethal-injection drugs to end his life. Jimmy Jenkins, a reporter at the Arizona Republic who witnessed the execution, called the experience of watching Atwood direct the state to his vein “surreal.” He wrote in his account of the execution that “I have witnessed life. And I have witnessed death. But nothing…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Lethal Injection
,Jun 07, 2022
Federal Courts Deny Arizona Prisoner’s Lethal-Injection Challenge and Request to Present New Evidence of Innocence
Federal courts denied relief in two lawsuits brought by Arizona death-row prisoner Frank Atwood, clearing the path for his execution on June 8, 2022. Atwood had sought an opportunity to present new evidence of his innocence, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected that petition. The appellate court also affirmed the Arizona federal district court’s denial of Atwood’s challenge to the state’s lethal-injection procedure, which Atwood said would cause him excruciating pain…
Policy Issues
Secrecy
,Jun 02, 2022
Arizona Violated Court Order to Allow Media to Witness Execution, Lawyer for Newspapers Says
Arizona violated state law, state corrections policies, and a court order by denying a reporter from the state’s largest daily circulation newspaper access to view the May 11 execution of Clarence Dixon and by blocking witnesses’ views of a portion of the execution process, a lawyer for the newspaper has…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Lethal Injection
,Jul 12, 2021
Arizona Supreme Court Rejects Prosecution Attempt to Expedite Executions Based on Its Own Error on Shelf Life of Execution Drugs
The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected the efforts of Arizona prosecutors to expedite the executions of two death-row prisoners and further limit appeals judicial review of legal issues in their cases. The Arizona Attorney General’s office had sought to shorten judicial review in the cases of death-row prisoners Frank Atwood and Clarence Dixon after learning that the shelf life of the drugs it intended to use in the executions would expire…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,Lethal Injection
,Jul 12, 2021
Arizona Seeks to Expedite Executions, With Less Judicial Oversight, Because of Its Own Error on Shelf Life of Execution Drugs
The Arizona Attorney General’s office has asked the Arizona Supreme Court to curtail the time allotted to judicial review of legal issues in the cases of two death-row prisoners prosecutors want to execute, saying that the drugs they intend to use in the executions remain potent half as long as it had previously…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Jun 02, 2021
Arizona Prepares for Executions With Gas Used in Holocaust Death Camps
Arizona reportedly has “refurbished” its gas chamber and has spent more than $2,000 to acquire ingredients to execute prisoners with cyanide gas, the same gas used by the Nazis to murder more than one million men, women, and children during the…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Mental Illness
,Representation
,Apr 12, 2021
Arizona AG Asks Court to Set Execution Dates, Sparking Broad Backlash
Nearly seven years after the botched execution of Joseph Wood put the death penalty on hold in Arizona, state officials are seeking to resume executions. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced on April 6, 2021 that he is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to set a briefing schedule and issue execution warrants for death-row prisoners Clarence Dixon and Frank Atwood. At present, no state but Texas has any pending…