Arizona on Wednesday carried out a lethal-injection execution of Leroy Dean McGill, 63, marking the first of three scheduled executions planned this week around the United States, according to the Associated Press. McGill was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m. PDT at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence.
Prosecutors said McGill killed Charles Perez in an attack in north Phoenix in 2002, when authorities said he threw gasoline at Perez and Perez’s girlfriend, Nova Banta, and lit them on fire. Perez died later at a hospital, while Banta survived and testified at McGill’s trial that she believed McGill was the attacker.
Arizona officials said McGill did not appear to be resisting during the procedure. After a lethal dose of pentobarbital began flowing, McGill began breathing heavily and made a snoring sound, and he was pronounced dead about 21 minutes after the IV insertion process began, according to the AP account.
The state had faced criticism in earlier executions for problems inserting IV lines, including difficulties in 2022. In McGill’s execution, officials said IVs were inserted successfully after just one attempt on each of his arms, and media witnesses described the process as smooth.
John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, said in remarks following the execution that “Today’s process went according to plan.” Barcello also quoted McGill’s last words as: “I just want to thank everyone for being so accommodating and nice.”
Media witness Josh Kelety, from the Associated Press, said he heard McGill at one point during the process say, “I’m going home soon.” Another media witness, Sean Rice, from Phoenix television station KPN, said he did not see any issue with finding a vein on either arm and reported a slight twitching on the right side of McGill’s head about four minutes before he was pronounced dead.
Before the injection began, officials said McGill looked at the witnesses, smiled, and nodded. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office pressed for the execution to be carried out, said her thoughts were with the victims, and described the case through that lens.
At trial, prosecutors said Banta identified McGill as the attacker, and jurors convicted him of murder in Perez’s death in October 2004 after deliberating for less than an hour. The court also convicted McGill of attempted murder for the attack on Banta, and of arson and endangerment tied to other people who escaped when the fire spread to nearby areas.
McGill’s lawyers had argued for leniency during sentencing by presenting evidence about abuse he suffered as a child and about mental impairment and psychological immaturity, according to the AP. The jury returned the death sentence, and later appeals seeking resentencing and a postponement were rejected by a lower-court judge and by the Arizona Supreme Court.
The AP reported that McGill waived his right to seek clemency after he declined an interview request. Arizona last carried out executions in 2025, and the state’s prior execution history also included a prolonged 2014 execution in which Joseph Wood was injected with multiple doses of a two-drug combination and was described as gasping repeatedly before he died.
With McGill’s death, Arizona now has 108 prisoners on death row, the Associated Press reported. Tijuana-related? No. Twelve people had been executed so far this year in the United States, with Tennessee and Florida scheduled to carry out executions Thursday.