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'Let's do this s**t': Executed Clarence Dixon's last words included one final message to his victim

Dixon was found guilty in 2008 of murdering Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old Arizona State University student, in 1978

Clarence Dixon, a death row convict, was executed by lethal injection at Florence State Prison in Arizona on Wednesday, May 11, after one last appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed. According to Deputy Corrections Director Frank Strada, the 66-year-old was executed at 10:30 am local time.

The defiant Dixon remarked in his last statement, "I do and always proclaim my innocence - now let's do this s**t," according to Strada. Dixon was found guilty in 2008 of murdering Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old Arizona State University student, in 1978. Bowdoin, who was found dead in her Tempe residence, had been raped, stabbed, and strangled with a belt, according to authorities.

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The homicide went unresolved until DNA fingerprinting tied Dixon to the crime in 2001. Dixon, an ASU student who lived across the street from Bowdoin at the time, was initially charged with raping her. The charge was later withdrawn due to the passage of time. In 2008, he was found guilty of her murder and condemned to death.

Dixon never made eye contact with anyone during his execution, according to KTAR TV witness Taylor Tasler, who said she heard him gasp after the drugs were given and then lose consciousness. 

Dixon wanted Kentucky Fried Chicken, a half-pint of strawberry ice cream, and a bottle of water as his last supper before being executed. He allegedly made a number of remarks to the doctors, including insulting them, saying "they worshipped death" and mocking their Hippocratic Oath. In his closing comments, the convict mentioned victim Bowdoin. According to Tasler, he allegedly said, "I know you're seeing this Deana, you know I didn't kill you."

Dixon is the sixth inmate in the United States to be executed this year. Dixon's lawyers have been pleading with the courts to postpone his execution in recent weeks. Despite this, judges dismissed accusations that he was mentally incompetent for execution and that he had no rational knowledge of why the state sought to execute him. After Arizona repaired its gas chamber in late 2020, Dixon declined to be executed by gas chamber, a method that hasn't been utilized in the United States in more than two decades.

Leslie Bowdoin James, Bowdoin's sister, remarked at the scene, "Today, the process has been finalized." "43 and 20," she replied, referring to the number of hearings and years she has attended since the indictment. James said the execution was not about closure, but about justice, and that it had been a big part of her life, but not all of it.