Clarence Dixon, a man convicted in the 1977 killing of a college student, will be executed on May 11, 2022. This would be Arizona’s first use of the death penalty in nearly eight years.

Who is Clarence Dixon?

Dixon was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1977 killing of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old Arizona State University student who was raped, strangled, and stabbed in her Tempe apartment.

It was only in 2001 that a detective tested DNA against a national database and found it matched Clarence Dixon’s profile. At the time, Dixon was serving a life sentence for a sexual assault conviction. He pleaded guilty to the youngster’s murder in 2002.

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On Wednesday, the Arizona Supreme Court issued an execution warrant for Dixon. He has 20 days to decide whether to be injected with a lethal drug or be executed by the gas chamber. If he doesn’t make a choice, the lethal injection will serve as the default method of execution.

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This will be Arizona’s first use of the death penalty since the “botched” execution of Joseph Wood in 2014. Wood was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours during which he was reportedly gasping and struggling to breathe.

“I’ve waited for this for a long time. I believe that there will be some finality. I don’t like to use the word closure.. you’re never going to change the fact that Deana’s gone. But.. the whole process, and always having it being in the back of your mind.. I’ll be done.. I’m ready to be done,” Deana’s sister Leslie Bowdoin James told Fox 10. 

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Arizona currently has 112 prisoners on death row.