Board rejects Arizona death-row prisoner’s clemency bid

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - Arizona’s Clemency Board has declined to recommend to Governor Doug Ducey that the death sentence of a man convicted in the 1984 kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl be reduced to a lesser punishment, rejecting his claims that he is innocent of the crimes.

The decision by the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency on Tuesday at the state prison in Florence marks one of the last steps before Frank Atwood’s execution in the 1984 killing of Vicki Hoskinson.

Atwood is scheduled to be executed on June 8 with an injection of Pentobarbital.

Authorities have said Atwood kidnapped the girl, whose remains were discovered in the desert northwest of Tucson nearly seven months after her disappearance. Experts could not determine the cause of death from the remains that were found, according to court records.

Atwood told the board that he hopes his death would give relief to Vicki’s family, but maintained that “I am sentenced to die for a crime I did not commit.”