Convicted killer Richard Djerf in line to be next inmate executed in Arizona

PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes took a significant step toward carrying out convicted killer Richard Djerf’s death sentence on Thursday.

Djerf is on death row for killing four members of a Phoenix family in 1993 and is out of appeals.

Mayes filed a motion giving the Arizona Supreme Court notice of the state’s intention to seek a warrant of execution for Djerf and requesting a briefing schedule.

“I will continue to enforce the death penalty because it is the law in Arizona and victims deserve justice,” she said in a press release. “The heinous murders by Richard Djerf of the Luna family, including their 5-year old-son, shock the conscience — and their loved ones have waited 32 years to see justice served.”

In 1995, Djerf pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Rochelle and Albert Luna and their children Patricia and Damien.

Multiple other charges related to the incident, including sexual assault and kidnapping, were dismissed as part of the plea.

The Sept. 14, 1993, murders reportedly were retribution after another son, Albert Luna Jr., burglarized Djerf’s home.

Richard Djerf would be Arizona’s 2nd execution of 2025

If things go according to Mayes’ plan, Djerf will be the second Arizona death row inmate to die by lethal injection this year following an execution hiatus of more than two years.

Aaron Gunches was put to death on March 19 for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband. Before then, Arizona’s last execution was in November 2022.

State officials have been reluctant to carry out the death penalty since the botched 2014 execution of Joseph Wood. The issues with the Wood execution prompted a hiatus that lasted nearly eight years.

Arizona currently has 111 inmates on death row, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.

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