Arizona death row inmate executed for 1984 murder of 8-year-old girl

An Arizona man convicted of kidnapping and murdering an 8-year-old woman in 1984 was put to demise on Wednesday, the second demise row inmate that the state has executed since restarting capital punishment earlier this 12 months. 

Frank Atwood, 66, was executed by deadly injection for the homicide of 8-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson, who was driving her bike dwelling in September 1984 when Atwood kidnapped her. 

Her stays had been discovered within the Tucson desert seven months later and Atwood fled to Texas, the place he was arrested. 

Atwood was beforehand convicted in California of lewd and lascivious acts and kidnapping towards two completely different kids. The Supreme Courtroom rejected his remaining attraction to cease the execution shortly earlier than he was put to demise round 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning. 

GOP GOVERNOR SUSPENDS ALL 2022 EXECUTIONS, ANNOUNCES INVESTIGATION

The little woman’s mom, Debbie Carlson, stated at a press convention that “right now marks remaining justice for our daughter.”

“Vicki was a vibrant little woman with an infectious snicker and a smile that might soften your coronary heart,” Carlson stated. “Her royal blue eyes mirrored an previous soul of knowledge, and her freckled nostril was distinctive and we’re blessed to see it in our grandchildren right now.”

Bud Foster, a neighborhood reporter for KOLD, stated it took about 20 minutes for medical doctors to organize Atwood’s execution and the demise row inmate was “very calm, very relaxed by way of the method.”

MISSOURI EXECUTES MAN WHO SHOT COUPLE IN THE BACK OF THEIR HEADS DURING ROBBERY IN 1996

“Thanks treasured father for coming right now and shepherding me into the religion. I need to thank my lovely spouse who has liked me with every little thing she has,” Atwood stated simply earlier than he was executed, in response to witnesses. “I pray the Lord can have mercy on all of us and that the Lord can have mercy on me.”

This undated file photograph offered by the Arizona Division of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry exhibits Frank Atwood, who was executed Wednesday for the 1984 killing of 8-year-old Vicki Hoskinson in Pima County, Ariz.
(Arizona Division of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry through AP, File)

Arizona paused executions in 2014 after it took two hours and 15 doses of a two-drug mixture to execute Joseph Wooden, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her father in 1989. 

The state executed Clarence Dixon final month for the 1978 homicide of an Arizona State College scholar. 

There are about 111 demise row inmates in Arizona, 22 of which have exhausted all their appeals, in response to Arizona Legal professional Normal Mark Brnovich.