Don Bolles, left, Max Dunlap (Arizona Republic)

Don Bolles, left, Max Dunlap (Arizona Republic)

The Arizona Republic

Max Dunlap, convicted of masterminding the car-bomb assassination of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles, died Tuesday at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson, according to a Department of Corrections spokesperson.

Dunlap, 80, was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 1993. He was serving a life sentence. Dunlap was unresponsive Tuesday morning in the Rincon medical unit in Tucson. Staff performed CPR before Dunlap was declared dead of what appears to be natural causes.

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Arizona Republic report: Don Bolles, 1929-1976
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Last May, Dunlap petitioned the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency for early release, cited his failing health. In his application, he mentioned that he suffered serious head injuries after being attacked by other prisoners and cannot walk. He also had diabetes and had been left incontinent from reactions to medication.

But as the hearing began, the board’s executive director, Duane Belcher, announced, “Although Mr. Dunlap has illnesses, he does not meet the standard of imminent danger of death” required to grant clemency on those grounds.

Dunlap’s longtime advocate, a retired tax attorney named David Frazer, implored the board to postpone its decision until an independent doctor could examine Dunlap to show that his health was far worse than Arizona Department of Corrections medical staff believes.

Belcher assured him that the board could reopen hearings should Frazer bring him new evidence of Dunlap’s condition.

Bolles, 47, died 11 days after a bomb was detonated beneath his car in the parking lot of a central Phoenix hotel.

Dunlap was convicted of first-degree murder for hiring two men to do the job at a misguided attempt to curry favor with liquor wholesaler and landowner named Kemper Marley. One of those two was acquitted at his second trial, casting doubt for many about whether Dunlap was truly guilty.