a day ago
Court sets Oct. 17 date for Arizona's second execution this year
PHOENIX (AP) — A man convicted of violently killing four members of a family in an act of revenge at their Phoenix home over 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 17 in what would be Arizona's second use of the death penalty this year. In an order Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court granted a request by prosecutors for a warrant to execute Richard Kenneth Djerf. The court also declined a request by his lawyers for a delay in issuing the warrant so they can recover documents in the case that were lost in a cyberattack in March at the federal public defender's office and that his attorneys say are needed in his efforts to seek clemency.
Djerf, 55, had pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the killings of Albert Luna Sr., his wife, Patricia, and their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and 5-year-old son Damien on Sept. 14, 1993. A judge later sentenced Djerf to death. Prosecutors say Djerf blamed another Luna family member for an earlier theft of home electronic items at his apartment, became obsessed with revenge and months later entered the home under a ruse in which he claimed to be delivering flowers. Authorities say Djerf sexually assaulted Rochelle and slashed her throat; beat Albert Luna Sr. with an aluminum baseball before stabbing and shooting him; and taped Patricia Luna and Damien to kitchen chairs before fatally shooting them. He acknowledged carrying out the killings, and a friend told authorities that Djerf revealed details of the crimes to him.
The Associated Press left a voicemail and email with one of Djerf's attorneys.
Authorities plan to execute Djerf with a lethal injection of pentobarbital. Arizona, which currently has 108 prisoners on death row, last used the death penalty in mid-March when it executed Aaron Brian Gunches in the 2002 killing of Ted Price. The state also carried out three executions in 2022 following a nearly eight-year hiatus brought on by criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining drugs for execution. In the 2014 execution, Joseph Wood was injected with 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours, leading him to snort repeatedly and gasp hundreds of times before he died.
