Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arizona. After the execution of Joseph Wood in 2014, executions were temporarily suspended but resumed in 2022. [1] [2] On January 23, 2023, newly inaugurated governor Katie Hobbs ordered a review of death penalty protocols and in light of that, newly inaugurated attorney general Kris Mayes issued a hold on any executions in the state. [3]
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a retrial happens before another jury. If the second jury is also deadlocked, a life sentence is issued. [4]
The Governor of Arizona can grant clemency only with advice and consent of the five-member Arizona Board of Executive Clemency. [5]
Certain aggravating circumstances constitute capital murder in the State of Arizona: [6]
Arizona's death row for males is located at the Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence in Florence. Female death row prisoners are housed at the Arizona State Prison Complex – Perryville in Goodyear.
Since capital punishment was resumed in 1976, 40 people in Arizona were convicted of murder and have been executed at Florence State Prison in Florence, Arizona. [7]
Since 1992, Arizona has employed lethal injection for its executions. [8] It previously executed prisoners with inhalation of cyanide gas, but passed a statute changing to lethal injection after the controversial and much-publicized execution of Donald Eugene Harding, who took 10 and 1/2 minutes to die. [9] However, inmates convicted for capital crimes committed prior to November 23, 1992 may choose gas inhalation instead. [10] [11]
In 2011, the state was found to be lawfully buying execution drugs from Dream Pharma, a pharmaceutical company operating out of a driving school in west London, UK. [12]
The 2014 execution of Joseph Wood was similarly controversial, taking nearly two hours and leading to a moratorium of executions until July 2019, when Attorney General Mark Brnovich urged the governor to "act without delay" in helping the state obtain execution drugs. [11] In October of that year, Arizona's department of corrections paid $1.5m to a confidential source for 1,000 1g vials of pentobarbital sodium salt, a sedative used in the state's executions. U.S. doctors are not permitted to prescribe the drug for executions, as taking a life does not serve a therapeutic purpose, so Arizona has to find suppliers willing to sell drugs without prescription. [13]
Arizona would next execute Clarence Wayne Dixon, on May 11, 2022. [14]
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 19 states currently have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other 8, as well as the federal government and military, being subject to different types of moratoriums.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It is the most serious punishment that could be imposed under federal law. The serious crimes that warrant this punishment include treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases.
In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out as of March 2019, because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Before the moratorium, executions had been frozen by a federal court order since 2006, and the litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Thus, there will be a court-ordered moratorium on executions after the termination of Newsom's moratorium if capital punishment remains a legal penalty in California by then.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Nevada.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Utah.
Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013, in the U.S. state of Maryland.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Oklahoma.
Capital punishment is one of two possible penalties for aggravated murder in the U.S. state of Oregon, with it being required by the Constitution of Oregon.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Texas for murder, and participation in a felony resulting in death if committed by an individual who has attained or is over the age of 18.
Clarence Ray Allen was an American criminal and proxy killer who was executed in 2006 at the age of 76 by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in California for the murders of three people. Allen was the second-oldest inmate at the time to be executed in the United States since 1976.
Capital punishment in Alabama is a legal penalty. Alabama has the highest per capita capital sentencing rate in the United States. In some years, its courts impose more death sentences than Texas, a state that has a population five times as large. However, Texas has a higher rate of executions both in absolute terms and per capita.
Capital punishment was abolished in Colorado in 2020. It was legal from 1974 until 2020 prior to it being abolished in all future cases.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Florida.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Between 1718 and 2021, more than 680 people have been executed in South Carolina. After the nationwide capital punishment ban was overturned in 1976, South Carolina has executed 43 people.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Tennessee.
Capital punishment in Missouri first used in 1810 is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Missouri.
Clarence Wayne Dixon was an American convicted murderer. He was convicted of the January 7, 1978, murder of 21-year-old Deana Lynne Bowdoin in Tempe, Arizona. The murder went unsolved until 2001, when DNA profiling linked him to the crime. Dixon, who was serving a life sentence for a 1986 sexual assault conviction, was found guilty of Bowdoin's murder and was formally sentenced to death on January 24, 2008. He was executed by lethal injection on May 11, 2022, in the state's first execution in nearly eight years, since the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014.