<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654727496594,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017a-bf0a-d0ae-abff-bf4b55780000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654727496594,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017a-bf0a-d0ae-abff-bf4b55780000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54572986", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1026860"} }); ","_id":"00000181-4571-d702-a3cf-4ff1c83d0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe state of Arizona executed Frank Atwood, 66, via lethal injection Wednesday morning for the first-degree murder of 8-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson in 1984.
All attempts to appeal the ruling were denied. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Atwood’s final plea for a stay of execution early Wednesday morning about an hour before his death.
His lawyers had issued multiple challenges to the execution, arguing Arizona’s death penalty methods breach Atwood’s constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment, citing his degenerative spinal disease.
The Constitution “does not require a pain-free execution,” Judge Michael Liburdi of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona said Sunday.
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Atwood’s last meal was salami, mustard, peanut butter, jelly, wheat bread, and tortilla chips, according to a report.
The execution was carried out at 10:16 a.m local time and was viewed by approximately 40 people who described it as “calm” and “peaceful.”
He thanked a Greek Orthodox priest “for coming today and shepherding me into the faith” and said, “I pray the Lord will have mercy on all of us and that the Lord will have mercy on me,” according to witnesses.
“Our family has waited 37 years, 8 months, and 22 days for this day to come,” Hoskinson’s mother said.
“We chose the death penalty because we never wanted another child to have to be faced by this monster,” she said at Atwood’s May clemency hearing.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Atwood is the second prisoner in Arizona to be executed in under a month.
