Arizona Executes Man for Horrific 2002 Murder

An Arizona prisoner convicted of killing another man by throwing gasoline at him and lighting a match was put to death Wednesday in the first of three executions planned this week around the US. Leroy Dean McGill, 63, was pronounced dead at 10:26am PT following a lethal injection at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence, corrections officials said. McGill drew the death penalty for his murder conviction in the killing of Charles Perez, who was attacked with his girlfriend in a north Phoenix apartment on July 13, 2002, the AP reports.

• John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, quoted McGill's last words as: "I just want to thank everyone for being so accommodating and nice." "Today's process went according to plan," Barcello said. Media witness Josh Kelety from the AP said he heard McGill at one point say: "I'm going home soon."

• Authorities said McGill threw the gasoline and a lit match at Perez, 21, and Perez's girlfriend, Nova Banta, 23, as they sat on a sofa in a north Phoenix apartment on July 13 of that year. Perez and Banta had accused McGill of stealing a gun from the apartment before the attack. At the time, McGill was using methamphetamine and hadn't slept in several days. Banta survived the attack, but Perez died.
• "After more than two decades, justice was finally served for Charles Perez and the woman who survived this horrific attack. What Leroy McGill did—pouring gasoline on the victims and setting them on fire—was among the cruelest acts imaginable," Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement, per USA Today.
• Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office pressed for the execution, said: "My thoughts today are with the family and the loved ones of Charles Perez and Nova Banta."

• At the Arizona trial, Banta testified that McGill told her and Perez not to talk behind people's backs. Before they could respond, McGill set them on fire, authorities said. Perez and Banta ran out of the apartment. Another man who lived in the apartment used a blanket to put out the flames on Banta, who suffered third-degree burns over three-quarters of her body. Perez died later at a hospital after suffering what prosecutors described as extreme pain.
• McGill's lawyers had argued for leniency by presenting evidence about abuse he suffered as a child as well as mental impairment and psychological immaturity. The jury ultimately returned the death sentence.
• Arizona last applied the death penalty in 2025, executing Richard Kenneth Djerf for the 1993 killings of four members of a Phoenix family and Aaron Gunches for the 2002 fatal shooting of his girlfriend's ex-husband.
• Twelve people have been executed so far this year in the US. Tennessee and Florida each are scheduled to carry out an execution Thursday.