Death Row Inmates | My Crime Library

Frank Anderson Arizona Death Row

Frank Anderson was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murders of three people. According to court documents Frank Anderson, Robert Poyson and Kimberly Lane would force their way into a home where they would murder Leta Kagen, her 15-year-old son, Robert Delahunt, and Roland Wear in order to steal a truck. Frank Anderson and Robert Poyson would be sentenced to death however Poyson death sentence was later overturned. Kimberly Lane was a teenager at the time of the triple murder and would be sentenced to eight years.

Frank Anderson 2021 Information

SPC Eyman, Browning Unit
PO Box 3400
FRANK W. ANDERSON 136521
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

Frank Anderson More News

A week-long evidentiary hearing has ended for a California drifter who sits on Arizona’s death row for a 1996 triple murder in Golden Valley.

Frank Winfield Anderson, 70, was sentenced to death in December 2002 for his part in the murder of a Golden Valley family in August 1996. He was originally sentenced to death in 1998. The Arizona Supreme Court reversed the conviction and death sentence and the case was retried in Mohave County in 2002 when Anderson again was convicted and sentenced to death.

Superior Court Judge Rick Williams heard testimony from witnesses in a week-long evidentiary hearing in Kingman on Anderson’s post-conviction relief.

Phoenix defense attorney John Saccoman argued that the trial judge improperly instructed the jury on the lesser included sentence of life without parole. Other defense arguments included ineffective counsel and prosecutor misconduct. There were also changes in the law since filing the PCR.

Anderson’s age and his deteriorating physical health, which leaves him in a wheelchair, would make it cruel and unusual punishment if he is executed; he may not live long enough to face execution, Saccoman argued.

Williams took the testimony under advisement and will schedule a status hearing to set another hearing for testimony from one last witness in the PCR.

Anderson’s co-defendant, Robert Poyson, 42, was sentenced to death for the murders but a federal appeals court overturned his death sentence. A third co-defendant, Kimberly Lane, pleaded guilty and served eight years in prison and has since been released.

Anderson, Poyson and Lane were arrested for the brutal murders of Leta Kagen, her 15-year-old son, Robert Delahunt, and Roland Wear at Kagen’s Golden Valley home Aug. 12, 1996. Anderson and Lane, who was 14 at the time of the murders, had hitchhiked to Golden Valley from California.

The three suspects committed the murders in order to steal Wear’s pickup truck. They fled to Illinois where Anderson, Poyson and Lane eventually were arrested.

https://apnews.com/article/c1521d79b3904c8a898ca50fb4d470c8

John Allen Arizona Death Row

John Allen was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murder of a child. John Allen along with his wife Sammantha Allen would put a ten year old child, Ame Deal, in a plastic storage container and shut the lid. The child who had been abused for years would suffocate and die. John Allen and Sammantha Allen were both convicted and sentenced to death.

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

John Allen 2021 Information

ASPC Eyman, Browning Unit
PO Box 3400
JOHN M. ALLEN 323167
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

John Allen More News

John Allen was given the death sentence today for the 2011 murder of 10-year-old Ame Deal as he and his wife became the first couple to be sentenced to die in Arizona, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.

In August, Sammantha Allen became the first woman sent to death row by a Maricopa County jury since 2004.
Eva Dugan is the first and only female executed in Arizona, in 1930, for killing a man she worked for in Pima County. She had been married five times, and all her husbands had reportedly disappeared.

This afternoon, none of the jurors looked at John Allen as they filed into court stone-faced after finishing deliberation for the penalty phase of the trial. He was convicted of first-degree murder last week.

Then Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Erin O’Brien Otis sentenced Allen to death by lethal injection, adding at least 36 years in prison for child abuse and conspiracy to commit child abuse.
Allen stared at his hands but did not react. One woman gasped and lowered her head.

After a pausing a long minute, Allen addressed the judge.

“I want to say I’m sorry,” he said, breaking down.

“What happened was an accident. I’m an idiot. I’m a jerk. It was an accident. I’m sorry to Ame. I’m sorry to her
family. I’m sorry to my family. I shamed all of them.”

Two women in his family start sobbing. Allen fought through tears throughout and could not get up from the table. He had his head in his hands, sobbing as a circle of bailiffs and attorneys hovered around him. He remained like that for five minutes after the judge left the bench.

“In my entire career, I can’t say I’ve ever seen a worse case,” Judge Otis said after the verdict was read.

“This was one of the most unnecessary deaths of a child I’ve ever seen.”

Family members declined comment. As Allen was led away, they clung to each other in twos and threes, sobbing.

During Allen’s trial and in court documents, the image of a living hell emerged about the house in southwest Phoenix. The evidence showed kids had been treated to routine belt lashings and paddling with the “butt buster,” but that Ame was singled out for worse treatment.

When police asked Sammantha Allen what her driving moral belief was, she said, “Honor thy mother and father.” She had acted out of a misguided sense of family loyalty, her lawyer told that jury.

Stoltzmann and Ame’s grandmother, Judith Deal, had already been sentenced to lengthy prison terms on child-abuse convictions; 24 years and 10 years, respectively. Ame’s father, David Deal, was sentenced to 14 years for attempted child abuse.

The family’s story has been told many times in many courts over six years, but in the end, the ordeal to find justice in 2011 death of “the girl in the box” ended the way it all began. With responsibility.

Ame’s family thought padlocking her in a footlocker was the best way for her to take responsibility when they said she took food and lied about it. On the day she died, she’d been accused of taking a Popsicle without permission.

Because of such twisted reasoning, five adults who were supposed to care for her have now been convicted of murder, child abuse, or both. John Allen’s trial, like those before, was heart-wrenching and disturbing.

Ame, who weighed just 59 pounds only three weeks before her 11th birthday and measured 48 inches in height, died in a plastic storage tub 31 inches long. It was July 11, 2011, and the tub was put in a room with no air conditioning.

The thermometer never dipped below 95. John and Sammantha Allen, went to bed, planning to check on her. They didn’t. They took responsibility, but disregarded it.

The next morning, Ame’s lips were blue. It took half an hour before somebody in the squalid, overcrowded house near 35th Avenue and Broadway Road, overrun by cockroaches and stinking of urine, called 911. Ame died of suffocation, complicated by heat exhaustion and dehydration, the autopsy later showed. She cooked in the box.

In a videotaped interview with police, John Allen explained that he put Ame in the box, but Sammantha said the girl could get out. So, he says on the tape played for the jury, he went to the backyard, took a padlock off the fence, and locked the footlocker with Ame inside as Sammantha watched.

When police arrived, kids told them one of the younger children in the house, which held as many as 24 people at one time, locked Ame inside the box during a game of hide-and-seek. The younger girl liked to lock things and giggle.

The Allens later repeated this story. John Allen penned his thoughts in his own, clear, handwriting the morning of July 12, 2011, in a spiral notebook that police found. “Ame found passed away in box. They (the kids) were playing hide-and-go-seek. We believe she fell asleep and suffocated,” he wrote.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/john-allen-gets-death-penalty-for-murder-of-ame-deal-9877226

Jose Acuna-Valenzuela Arizona Death Row

Jose Acuna-Valenzuela was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murder of a man. According to court documents Jose Acuna-Valenzuela would shoot and kill a man who had earlier testified against him in another criminal case. Jose Acuna-Valenzuela would fire several shots into a vehicle killing the vehicle and severely injuring his passenger. Jose Acuna-Valenzuela would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Jose Acuna-Valenzuela 2021 Information

Last Name First Name Middle Initial ACUNA-VALENZUELAJ OSE A

Gender Height (inches)Weight Hair Color MALE 73 204 BLACK

Eye Color Ethnic Origin Custody Class Admission BROWN MEXICAN AMERICAN Close/Moderate 10/06/2014

Projected Eligible Release Date Prison Release Date Release Type Death SENTENCE EXPIRATION

Most Recent Location As of Date Complex Unit Last Movement Status FLORENCE ASPC-F CENTRAL D/RW 07/20/2017 ACTIVE

Jose Acuna-Valenzuela More News

In August 2011, Edgar S. and his girlfriend Perla M. went to a local Baskin-Robbins to get ice cream. They saw Jose Acuna-Valenzuela, who had previously been Edgar’s friend. In 2008, Edgar had testified against Acuna during a criminal proceeding in which Acuna was sentenced to prison. Thereafter, their relationship soured.

When Jose Acuna-Valenzuela saw the couple inside Baskin-Robbins, he looked at them twice, his eyes widened, and he walked toward an exit door and yelled at Edgar, “I told you I didn’t want to [expletive] see you.” Once outside, Acuna saw Sandra P., a friend from high school, who was running errands in the same shopping complex. Acuna appeared upset while talking with Sandra, saying (about Perla) that she “told me that she hadn’t seen him, that she wasn’t talking to him no more,” and she “lied to me,” and (about Edgar) that “I did prison time for him.” Sandra offered to help Acuna, reassuring him that she would support him in a fight against Perla.

After Edgar and Perla left the Baskin-Robbins and got into Perla’s car, Edgar said, “Baby, he’s coming.” Over her right shoulder, Perla saw Jose Acuna-Valenzuela running and firing a gun at her vehicle. Bullets shattered the car window and struck Edgar. Edgar tried to get out of the vehicle while Acuna continued to run behind the car and shoot at Perla. Acuna then left the scene in Sandra’s car. Edgar sustained multiple bullet wounds, and Perla was hit in her upper back. She survived, ultimately undergoing two surgeries. Edgar died from his injuries.

Jose Acuna-Valenzuela was convicted after trial of first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, discharge of a firearm at a structure, and misconduct involving weapons. The jury found two aggravating circumstances: (1) that Acuna had been previously convicted for another serious offense (the attempted first degree murder of Perla); and (2) that he murdered Edgar in retaliation for testimony in a court proceeding. A.R.S.

https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4537834/state-of-arizona-v-jose-alejandro-acuna-valenzuela/

Jonathan Renfro Idaho Death Row

Jonathan Renfro was sentenced to death by the State of Idaho for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents Police Sgt. Greg Moore was investigating a suspicious person in a neighborhood that had been plagued recently by thefts. When the Officer approached Jonathan Renfro would pull out a gun and shoot the Officer, Renfro would then steal the Officers gun and speed off in his car. Jonathan Renfro would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Idaho Death Row Inmate List

Jonathan Renfro 2021 Information

IDAHO MAXIMUM SECURITY INSTITUTION J-BLOCK

Jonathan Renfro More News

A judge sentenced Jonathan Renfro to death for the murder of Coeur d’Alene Police Sergeant Greg Moore back in 2015.

He was sentenced to death for the first degree murder charge, then also life without parole plus 19 years for other non-capital offenses.

A jury decided Renfro should receive the death penalty on Saturday after a lengthy trial. Renfro was found guilty of murder for Moore’s death back on October 13.

In May 2015, Moore stopped Jonathan Renfro while walking through a Coeur d’Alene neighborhood that had become the victim of recent car burglaries. Investigators said Renfro pulled out a gun, shot Moore, took the officer’s gun and then sped off in his car.

Monday, there was very limited seating in the courtroom for Renfro’s sentencing. Officers from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department and Moore’s family filled the seats.

https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/kootenai-county/judge-sentences-jonathan-renfro-to-death-for-2015-murder-of-police-sergeant/293-489653173

Gerald Pizzuto Idaho Death Row

Gerald Pizzuto was sentenced to death by the State of Idaho for beating two people to death. According to court documents Gerald Pizzuto would rob a cabin in Idaho County where he tied up the two occupants, Berta Herndon, 58, and her nephew Del Herndon, 37, and proceeded to beat them with a hammer. After a hammer failed to kil Del he would shoot him in the head. Gerald Pizzuto would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Idaho Death Row Inmate List

Gerald Pizzuto 2021 Information

IDAHO MAXIMUM SECURITY INSTITUTION J-BLOCK

Gerald Pizzuto More News

t is possible Idaho’s government could seek a death warrant as early as October for the execution of one of its nine death row inmates, as the inmate’s attorneys say the state is trying to give them little notice of when the date will be.

The inmate is Gerald Pizzuto Jr., 64, who in 1986 was sentenced to die. He was convicted of murder for the deaths in 1985 of Berta Herndon, 58, and her nephew Del Herndon, 37, at a cabin in Idaho County, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors say he wanted to steal money from the pair, and that he tied their hands and legs before he beat them both with a hammer and shot Del Herndon with a .22 caliber rifle when the hammer blows failed to kill him, the Lewiston Tribune reported.

Pizzuto’s attorneys appealed the case, and raised the question of whether he has an intellectual disability, which would bar him from execution. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was unconvinced, however, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. Supreme Court may hear Pizzuto’s case during its October session, but if it doesn’t, it is possible the state could seek a warrant to execute him.

Attorneys “indicated in a pleading that the State could request a death warrant as early as October 2020,” according to a court document Pizzuto’s attorneys filed on Monday.

That document was filed as part of a legal action that began in March, on behalf of Pizzuto and another death row inmate, Thomas Creech, who may be the next to face execution. The attorneys are from Federal Defender Services of Idaho, a nonprofit organization funded by yearly grants from Congress.

Pizzuto’s lawyers are worried because they say the state is trying to provide little notice of when the execution will take place. They’re concerned because Pizzuto is in poor health — he’s in hospice and he has bladder cancer, according to court documents. The Idaho Department of Correction has refused to say where the drugs used to kill Pizzuto would come from, and his attorneys are worried the drugs used could have an adverse reaction with his medication or his health issues, resulting in an elongated, torturous death. In addition to that, the department has, in the past, not said which drugs it will use during an execution until relatively soon before the killing.

The Idaho Department of Correction has told the Idaho Press on numerous occasions the department does not comment on pending litigation.

Attorneys are sparring over the meaning of an April 8 order from the case’s judge requiring the department “to inform the court 14 days in advance if the state sets an execution for Pizzuto that, if carried out, would moot his claims before he can fully and fairly litigate them in this case.”

Pizzuto’s attorneys argue this means that, since the date of execution is included in a death warrant, the department must give them 14 days’ notice before they seek a warrant. Attorneys for the state of Idaho disagree — they say the order means they must give 14 days’ notice before the execution itself.

Pizzuto’s attorneys say they can’t determine if the execution will be inhumane without more notice and information.

“Without the execution plan, that substantial undertaking is obviously impossible,” according to Monday’s court document. “And with the plan, it will take a significant amount of time, which is exactly what the (state is) intentionally depriving the plaintiffs of by withholding any information about how the execution will be carried out.”

After days of trial in 2019 unrelated to Pizzuto’s case, a 4th District Court judge ordered the department to turn over the source of some of the drugs, but the state filed an appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court.

Not long before that trial, the department had also declined requests from Pizzuto’s attorneys about the possible execution

It was all the way back on Dec. 18, 2018, that the plaintiffs asked the defendants for basic information about the State’s intentions for their executions, including what drugs would be used to kill them,” according to Monday’s court document. “For twenty months and counting, the defendants have refused to provide that information to the plaintiffs, even while threatening to execute Mr. Pizzuto less than three months from today. Instead, the defendants are waiting to divulge the information until shortly before the execution, so as to prevent Mr. Pizzuto from having the chance to fully investigate and prepare potential claims before they are extinguished by his death.”

As a solution, Pizzuto’s attorneys are seeking a stay of execution to avoid a “blizzard of onerous litigation” should the state ask for a death warrant in the coming months. They write it “offers the Court a far more straightforward way of managing the case and giving itself time to carefully resolve Mr. Pizzuto’s serious claims.”

“An administrative stay of perhaps six months, or whatever other amount of time the Court thought appropriate would be ‘only intended to preserve the status quo’ to provide space to consider the issues in the case,” according to Monday’s court document.

A judge hasn’t made a decision about a stay yet. The next deadline in the case is Wednesday, when attorneys must file more information about their interpretation of the April 8 order.

If Pizzuto is executed, he would be only the third Idahoan executed in decades. The state’s most recent execution was that of Richard Leavitt in 2012, which came on the heels of Paul Ezra Rhoades’ execution in 2011. Prior to that, the state had had a long gap in executions.

As Pizzuto’s attorneys pointed out, a judge in Rhoades’ case noted the department’s lack of notice of execution.

“Nine years ago, this Court indicated that it was ‘troubled’ by IDOC’s penchant for announcing critical information about executions at the last minute,” they wrote. “Nine years later, IDOC continues to deliberately withhold the most basic parts of its plans for executions— including the drug to be used—until the eleventh hour.”

https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/idaho-could-seek-warrant-for-execution-as-soon-as-october/article_0d5a9740-90bd-5804-a4eb-1e522b23edea.html