Darrell Pandeli Arizona Death Row

darrell Pandeli

Darrell Pandeli  was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murder of a woman. According to court documents Darrell Pandeli picked up the victim and offered her money for sex. When he was unable to perform he demanded his money back and the victim refused. Pandeli would slit the woman’s throat and would dump her body in an alley. Darrell Pandeli was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Darrell Pandeli 2021 Information

ASPC Eyman, Browning Unit
PO Box 3400
DARREL P. PANDELI 137439
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

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On September 24, 1993, Pandeli picked up the victim, Holly Iler, while driving home from Baby Dolls, a strip club in Phoenix. He paid the victim to have sex with him, but he was unable to maintain an erection and decided that he wanted his money back. Pandeli claimed that the victim was upset and attacked him. Pandeli slit the victim’s throat and cut off her nipples, then dumped her body in an alley. He later flushed the nipples down a toilet.

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The Arizona Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence for a convicted killer. 

It is the third death sentence Darrel Pandeli has faced for the same case.

The first time Pandeli faced the death sentence for killing and mutilating 43-year-old Holly Iler, it was 1997 — four years after her murder.

In 2002, that case was overturned after a U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a different death penalty case that impacted several death sentences nationwide for procedural violations.

A lower court then returned his second death penalty case in 2006 after adding aggravated circumstances to his case, including the 1991 murder of another woman and the “especially heinous and depraved” manner in which he killed Holly Iler. 

But that death sentence was also thrown out by a Maricopa County Superior Court ruling on the grounds Pandeli’s lawyers mishandled his case.

As of Monday, the state Supreme Court reinstated his death sentence claiming the lower court was incorrect on its procedural ruling.

https://theshow.kjzz.org/content/475828/convicted-killer-faces-death-sentence-third-time-same-case

Manuel Ovante Arizona Death Row

manuel ovante

Manuel Ovante was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for a double murder. According to court documents Manuel Ovante would shoot and kill two people and injure a third. Manuel Ovante was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Manuel Ovante 2021 Information

ASPC Eyman, Browning Unit
PO Box 3400
MANUEL OVANTE 251126
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

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On June 11, 2008, Manuel Ovante, George Rojas, Nathan Duran, and Richard Fore all went to the residence of Jordan Trujillo to try and get some drugs. When none were available, they left to try and find some elsewhere. They subsequently came back to Jordan’s house again looking for drugs. At this time, Damien Vickers and Gabriel Valenzuela were there at the house as well. Once inside the residence, Ovante suddenly pulled out a gun, pointed it at Gabriel and said “who left the safety on?”” Ovante then shot Jordan twice, killing her. He then pointed the gun in the area where Damien and Gabriel were and started shooting again. Both Damien and Gabriel were shot, and Gabriel called 911 as Ovante, Rojas, and Fore were running back to the truck to flee the scene. Damien was fighting for his life and asked Duran to help him. Duran was able to get Damien to the truck and they all left. Damien was asking to be taken to a hospital but Ovante would not allow that to happen. Damien died in the truck and Ovante decided to dump Damien’s body in an alley near the area of 12th Street and Roosevelt. Gabriel survived from his gun shot injuries. Police arrested Rojas, Duran, and Fore a few days later. Ovante was arrested about a month later. In the initial part of the trial, Ovante pled guilty to the murders of Jordan and Damien, and also to the aggravated assault of Gabriel Valenzuela. Ovante then stipulated to the aggravating facts and the jury ultimately sentenced him to death.

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On June 11, 2008, Ovante and three friends drove to Jordan Trujillo’s house, hoping she would give them methamphetamine. Trujillo refused, but Ovante returned repeatedly that day attempting to obtain drugs. When Ovante and his friends entered Trujillo’s home the last time, they encountered Trujillo, who was asleep on a living room couch, Damien Vickers, and Gabriel Valenzuela. Without expressing anger or distress, Ovante suddenly pulled out a gun.

¶ 3 Ovante pointed the gun at Valenzuela and yelled “[W]ho left the safety on?” Ovante released the safety, pointed the gun again at Valenzuela, and told him not to move. He then shot the sleeping Trujillo twice in the head and began shooting at Valenzuela and Vickers, wounding both of them. Trujillo appeared to die almost instantly, but Vickers begged for help and Valenzuela called the police.

¶ 4 After the shooting, Ovante and two of his friends got into a truck and tried to convince the third friend, Nathan Duran, to leave Vickers behind. Duran instead dragged Vickers into the back of the truck. Vickers was bleeding from his bullet wounds, holding onto Duran, and asking to be taken to a hospital. Ovante refused to do so. After Vickers died in the truck, Ovante decided to abandon his body in an alley. Valenzuela, who remained in the apartment, survived the attack.

¶ 5 The State charged Ovante with two counts of first degree murder and one count of aggravated assault. The State sought the death penalty, alleging as aggravating circumstances that Ovante had been previously convicted of a serious offense (the aggravated assault of Valenzuela), see A.R.S. § 13–751(F)(2) (2008), and had been convicted of one or more other homicides committed during the commission of the offense, see id. § 13–751(F)(8). Ovante pleaded guilty to all charges and admitted both aggravating circumstances.

¶ 6 At the conclusion of the penalty phase, the jury determined Ovante should be sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Trujillo and sentenced to death for Vickers’ murder. Accordingly, the trial court entered sentences of life with a possibility of parole after twenty-five years for Trujillo’s murder, death for Vickers’ murder, and a mitigated term of six years in prison for the aggravated assault on Valenzuela.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1620438.html

Scott Nordstrom Arizona Death Row

Scott Nordstrom

Scott Nordstrom was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for six murders. According to court documents Scott Nordstrom and Robert Jones were involved in two robberies that left six people dead. Scott Nordstrom and Robert Jones were arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Robert Jones was executed on October 23, 2013

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Scott Nordstrom 2021 Information

ASPC Florence, Central Unit
PO Box 8200
SCOTT D. NORDSTROM 086114
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

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On May 30, 1996, Robert Jones and Scott Nordstrom entered the Moon Smoke Shop in Tucson. Jones immediately began shooting, hitting a customer in the head and injuring an employee. Nordstrom shot another employee in the head. Jones and Nordstrom took money, which they shared with lookout David Nordstrom.

On June 13, 1996, Robert Jones and Scott Nordstrom entered the Firefighters Union Hall in Tucson. Jones shot three customers in the head and took the wallet of one of the victims. Nordstrom killed the bartender after he was unable to open the safe. Jones and Nordstrom took money from a cash register. Both cases were solved when David Nordstrom contacted the police.

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On May 30, 1996, shortly after six p.m., four employees were working at the Moon Smoke Shop in Tucson, Arizona.   Noel Engles and Steven Vetter stood behind a counter, facing away from the front door, training a new employee, Mark Naiman.   The fourth employee, Thomas Hardman, sat in a chair near the back of the store’s main room.   The employees heard a buzzer indicating the front door had been opened, followed immediately by a gunshot and someone shouting at them to get down.   Before dropping to the ground, Engles saw a man with a cowboy hat, glasses, and a mustache, carrying a gun.   Engles also noticed another person moving around.  

As Engles, Vetter, and Naiman crouched behind the counter, they heard and saw someone run toward the back room of the store.   The other person approached the counter where Engles, Vetter, and Naiman were crouched, demanding that they open the register and waving his gun, a semi-automatic pistol, over their heads.   Naiman opened a nearby register.   Their assailant responded by demanding that he open the other register.   As Naiman moved toward that register, he heard the robber begin firing shots toward Engles and Vetter, who were still crouched on the floor.  

Two bullets struck Vetter, one in the face and one in the arm.   While these shots were being fired, Engles heard more gunshots and someone in the back room shouting to “get out.”   When the assailant in the front room began shooting, Naiman glanced back over his shoulder and then fled without opening the second register.   Naiman described the shooter as about 5′ 10″, with brownish-blond, shoulder-length hair and a handlebar mustache, wearing a black cowboy hat, sunglasses, jeans, and a dark blue or black striped cowboy shirt.   Naiman ran out the front door toward the grocery store and called the police.

¶ 2 After the shooting ceased, Engles left the store through the back door.   On his way out, he saw a man he did not recognize lying at the front of the store and Hardman on the floor in the store’s back room.   Engles ran out the back door and along the rear of the strip mall, yelling for help.   As he was running, he saw a light blue pickup truck driving along the back of the strip mall.   Although he told police on the scene that he saw two people in the truck, at trial he testified that he was not sure about the number of people in the truck.   He also stated that the two people he was sure he saw were seated far apart, one in the driver’s position and the other up against the passenger window, and that none of the people in the truck wore a cowboy hat.

¶ 3 Vetter left shortly after Engles did, using the back door.   On his way out of the store, he saw the body of a person he did not know on the floor at the front of the store, and Hardman’s body lying face down in the back room.   The man that neither Engles nor Vetter recognized was Clarence O’Dell, who died of a 9 mm gunshot wound to the head.   The shot that killed O’Dell was fired from less than two feet away, and would have incapacitated him immediately.

¶ 4 Thomas Hardman was dead when Engels and Vetter found him in the back room.   Two shots from a .380 hit him, one shot fired from several inches away, the other from two to four feet away.   One shot would have been immediately disabling and lethal, the other would not necessarily have been fatal or caused unconsciousness.   Hardman was found lying face down, but the medical examiner could not determine whether he was shot before or after falling.

B. Firefighters’ Union Hall

¶ 5 The Firefighters’ Union Hall in Tucson is a firefighters’ social club that allows non-firefighters to join as associate members.   The front door to the Hall remains locked, and members gain admittance by inserting a key card into a slot.   Members who forget their key cards and non-members can request admittance by ringing a buzzer.   The bartender can open the door using a switch at the bar, although patrons often respond themselves by opening the door.

¶ 6 At about nine p.m. on the evening of June 13, 1996, four people were in the bar area at the Firefighters’ Hall:  the bartender, Carol Lynn Noel, and three customers, Arthur Bell, his wife Judy Bell, and Maribeth Munn. When Munn’s partner arrived at the Hall at about nine-thirty p.m., he found all four dead from gunshot wounds.   Munn, who still sat on her stool at the bar, had been killed by a 9 mm gunshot fired from a distance of six inches to two-and-a-half feet.   Mr. Bell was also still seated at the bar, dead as a result of a 9 mm gunshot to the head.   Mr. Bell had a bruise and cut on his face that were inflicted within twenty-four hours of his death.   Mrs. Bell was lying on the floor next to a barstool, dead from a 9 mm gunshot to the head.   The investigating officers found shell casings on the bar, as well as nicks in the bar, consistent with the gunshots having been fired while Munn and the Bells had their heads resting on the bar.   The medical examiner also testified that the gunshot wounds of Munn and Mr. Bell were consistent with this scenario, particularly those of Munn, who was killed by a bullet that also passed through her upper arm.

¶ 7 Noel was found dead behind the bar, lying face down.   She had been shot twice with a .380, once in the head and once in the back.   Both shots were fired from a distance of approximately three feet.   She died as a result of the head wound.   The shot to her back would neither have killed her nor caused her to lose consciousness.   Noel also had a large laceration on her face, the result of blunt force impact such as that from a fist or a shoe.   The wound would have bled significantly, and some of Noel’s blood was found in the back room of the bar, on and around the safe, which she could not open.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1366452.html

Steven Newell Arizona Death Row

steven newell

Steven Newell was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the sexual assault and murder of a eight year old girl. According to court documents Steven Newell would abduct eight year old Elizabeth Byrd who would be sexually assaulted and murdered. Steven Newell would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Steven Newell 2021 Information

ASPC Florence, Central Unit
PO Box 8200
STEVEN NEWELL 183736
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

Steven Newell More News

On May 23, 2001, Elizabeth Byrd, an 8-year old, headed to school from her mother’s trailer at approximately 8:00 a.m. Steven Newell approached Elizabeth and began walking with her. Steven Newell knew Elizabeth because he had dated Elizabeth’s sister, Lori Stone, for several months. Elizabeth was late for school and told Newell that she didn’t have time to talk to him. Newell persuaded Elizabeth to take a “short-cut” through a field with irrigation ditches. After Elizabeth and Newell were isolated and out of sight from passers-by, Newell sexually assaulted Elizabeth. After the assault, Newell grabbed a strap from Elizabeth’s backpack and strangled her to death with it. After Elizabeth was dead, Newell wrapped her body in a carpet and threw her into a water-filled drainage ditche. He was arrested approximately two weeks later. In custody, Newell admitted that he led Elizabeth into the isolated field and that he “sexually rubbed” up against her. He also admitted taking the strap from Elizabeth’s purse and wrapping it around her neck, and that he threw her into the ditch. However, Newell denied murdering Elizabeth. Forensic testing proved that Newell was the source of semen found in the panties Elizabeth was wearing at the time of the murder.

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On the morning of May 23, 2001, eight-year-old Elizabeth Byrd left home for school.   She was wearing her school uniform and carrying a purse or knapsack with long straps.   Around 7:45 a.m., a neighbor saw Elizabeth walking toward school with Steven Ray Newell following closely behind.   Elizabeth knew Newell because he had previously dated her sister, and the neighbor knew both Elizabeth and Newell.

¶ 2 About an hour later, a Salt River Project (“SRP”) employee working in a field near the M.C. Cash Elementary School came upon someone standing in an irrigation ditch.   Based on past experience, the employee initially thought that the person was using something to back up the water in the ditch so he could bathe.   As the employee approached the area, the person in the ditch turned and looked at him for about thirty seconds and then jumped up and ran up the bank, disappearing behind some bushes.   The employee noticed a rolled up piece of green indoor-outdoor carpeting in the water near where he had seen the person standing, but he did not retrieve it.

¶ 3 That afternoon, Elizabeth’s mother arrived home to find that Elizabeth had not returned from school.   This did not concern her, however, because Elizabeth routinely went directly from school to a friend’s house, where she would stay until around eight in the evening.   When Elizabeth did not come home at eight, her family began to worry.   Elizabeth’s sisters began looking for her, which is when they learned that she had not been at her friend’s house.   Around eleven in the evening, because the family still had not found Elizabeth, the police were called.

¶ 4 Phoenix police responded to the family’s call.   After the officers spoke with Elizabeth’s mother, they spoke with two of Elizabeth’s friends.   The officers were told that Elizabeth had not been in school that day;  a missing persons report was then called in.

¶ 5 The next morning, two members of the Phoenix Police Department were dispatched to search the field near the M.C. Cash Elementary School.   The officers discovered a child’s denim shoe, a children’s book, a black purse or knapsack containing a cherub magnet with the name “Elizabeth” on it, a pair of socks, and a drawstring coin purse.   That afternoon, a detective from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office discovered Elizabeth’s body in an irrigation ditch in the field, rolled up in green indoor-outdoor carpeting.   Shoe prints were found along the ditch near where Elizabeth’s body was found.

¶ 6 Later that day, the SRP employee went to the Sheriff’s office after seeing a news report about the investigation.   He described the person he had seen in the irrigation ditch.   The investigators used that description to create a composite sketch of the suspect.   The employee was also shown a photographic lineup, but he did not identify anyone in the lineup as the person he had seen in the ditch.1

¶ 7 The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on Elizabeth’s body the following day.   The autopsy revealed bruising on the tops of Elizabeth’s hands, wrists, and forearms, which were consistent with an injury caused by her hands being squeezed.   A ligature was still tied around Elizabeth’s neck.   There were small vertical abrasions on the left side of Elizabeth’s neck, consistent with fingers grasping at the ligature trying to remove it. She had further bruising under her chin and on her left temple, along with an abrasion near her right eye.   The injuries that caused these bruises occurred before or around the time of Elizabeth’s death.

¶ 8 The autopsy also revealed evidence of penetration of Elizabeth’s vulva to the hymen consistent with a sexual assault.   Elizabeth’s vulva was bruised, and the vaginal tract had abrasions, with a tear on the left side of one of the abrasions.   One abrasion in the vaginal tract went right up to the hymen, but the hymen itself was still intact.

¶ 9 The medical examiner concluded that Elizabeth died from asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation.   Once the ligature had been tightened, Elizabeth likely died within a minute or two.   The medical examiner further determined that it was likely that Elizabeth had stopped breathing before she was placed in the water because his examination did not reveal any “froth or foaminess” in Elizabeth’s airways “and the lungs were not excessively heavy” from the presence of water.   Elizabeth’s stomach also contained no water.

¶ 10 At the time of the autopsy, Elizabeth’s underwear, along with blood, bone, and tissue samples from Elizabeth, were collected.   These items were subsequently sent to the Department of Public Safety (“DPS”) lab for testing.

¶ 11 Because Newell had dated Elizabeth’s sister, a detective from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office contacted Newell on May 27, 2001, to come to the station to be interviewed;  Newell agreed.   Newell, like the many people from Elizabeth’s neighborhood who were interviewed regarding Elizabeth’s disappearance, was not a suspect at the time of the initial interview.   During this interview, Newell was asked about the day of Elizabeth’s disappearance and if he knew anything that might be helpful to the investigation.   Newell described what he did that day but made no incriminating statements;  at the end of the interview, the detective told him he was free to leave.

¶ 12 Steven Newell was contacted again by a Sheriff’s detective at Elizabeth’s funeral on June 2, 2001.   The detective went to the funeral to find Newell because he had been told that Newell was wearing Converse All Star shoes, the type of shoes which matched the shoe prints found near Elizabeth’s body. Steven  Newell voluntarily went to the station and again answered questions related to his activities around the time of Elizabeth’s disappearance.   During the interview, Newell’s shoes were taken to be compared with the footprints observed at the ditch.   Again, Newell was permitted to leave.   Two days later, an analyst from the Sheriff’s office concluded that it was “highly probable” that the footprints at the crime scene had been made by Newell’s shoes.

¶ 13 On the evening of June 4, two Maricopa County Sheriff’s detectives contacted Steven Newell and asked if he would consent to another interview.   Newell agreed, and drove to the station.   Shortly after 8:00 p.m., the detectives began questioning Newell.   The entire interrogation was videotaped.   Fewer than ten minutes into the interview, the detectives advised Newell of the Miranda2 rights.   Newell waived those rights and agreed to speak with the detectives.

¶ 14 The questioning began in a manner similar to the two previous interviews, but became more accusatory after the second hour.   The detectives told Newell that they had evidence that proved he had committed the murder.   Newell initially denied having anything to do with Elizabeth’s death;  however, that changed as the interrogation continued.

¶ 15 Eventually, Steven Newell acknowledged that he had been with Elizabeth in the field on the morning of her disappearance.   He admitted he had grabbed her and placed her between his legs while he rubbed up against her, causing him to ejaculate.   He then acknowledged placing her in the water in the ditch by grabbing her purse strap-which was around her neck-and her feet.   When he saw the SRP employee, he covered Elizabeth with the indoor-outdoor carpeting and ran off.   Throughout the interrogation he maintained that Elizabeth was alive when he placed her in the ditch and that he did not sexually abuse her.   Newell was taken to jail shortly before eleven in the morning on June 5, 2001.

¶ 16 Later that day, the SRP employee was shown another photo lineup, which included a picture of Steven Newell;  he identified Newell as the person he had seen in the ditch on May 23, 2001.

¶ 17 Over the next few days, a criminalist with the DPS crime lab conducted an analysis on Elizabeth’s underwear.   During the analysis, semen was found inside of the central crotch area.   The criminalist then did a deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”) analysis of sperm that were found.   The following week, a DNA analysis was conducted on a blood sample from Newell to see if it matched the DNA from the sperm found in Elizabeth’s underwear.   Based on this analysis, it was determined that Newell was the likely source of the sperm.3

¶ 18 On June 14, 2001, a Maricopa County grand jury indicted Newell on three counts related to the disappearance and death of Elizabeth Byrd:  first degree murder, sexual conduct with a minor, and kidnapping.   Nearly three years later, after an eleven-day trial, a jury found Newell guilty of all three counts.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1173489.html

Brad Nelson Arizona Death Row

brad nelson

Brad Nelson was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the sexual assault and murder of a fourteen year old girl. According to court documents Brad Nelson would sexually assault and murder fourteen year old Amber Graff. Brad Nelson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Brad Nelson 2021 Information

ASPC Florence, Central Unit
PO Box 8200
BRAD L. NELSON 249535
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

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In June 2006, Nelson agreed to stay with his sister’s teenage kids, 14-year-old Amber Graff and 13-year-old Wade Graff while their mother was in the hospital being treated for Crohn’s disease. Nelson checked into the Silver Queen Motel in Mohave County on June 6, 2006. In the early morning hours of June 9th, Nelson got up and walked to a nearby McDonalds to get breakfast sandwiches and coffee. Wade woke up when Nelson knocked on the door after coming back from McDonalds. Wade opened the door for Nelson and went back to sleep. When Wade woke up at abut 8:40, he noticed Amber was still asleep on the other bed with the covers over her. Wade and Nelson spent the morning going to a few places. They first went to K-Mart, where Nelson purchased a shirt. They then went to a nearby store called Flying J and then returned back to the motel. Wade did some laundry and then he and Nelson went to hang out at the pool. Afterwards, when they were near the room, Nelson asked one of the maids if she wanted a bottle of rum that was left over and she agreed to have it. When they walked into the room, Nelson grabbed the bottle and told Amber to wake up. When she didn’t move, he took the covers off her. She was naked from the waist down and her body was blue; she was bleeding from her forehead and had blood and foam coming out of her mouth. Nelson screamed and the maid called 911. Paramedics arrived shortly after and pronounced Amber dead at the scene. The investigation revealed Amber died from blunt force trauma. Police found a rubber mallet under the bed which had her blood on it. The investigation further revealed that Nelson had purchased a rubber mallet at K-Mart in the early morning of June 6. Nelson’s semen was found on Amber’s groin area, and his DNA was also on her clothing. Amber’s stepfather gave a letter written by Nelson to Amber proclaiming his love for her to the police. Nelson was charged with first degree murder and child molestation. At trial, the court granted the defense’s motion for acquittal on the child molestation charge based on lack of evidence of sexual assault. The jury convicted Nelson of first degree murder and sentenced him to death

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 In June 2006, Nelson was caring for fourteen-year and ten-month old, Amber, and thirteen-year-old, Wade, at a motel in Kingman, Arizona, while the children’s mother, Nelson’s half-sister, was in the hospital.   On the day of the murder, Nelson left the motel room and walked to a nearby Kmart, where he purchased a rubber mallet.   Nelson returned to the motel and, while Wade slept, hit Amber in the head with the mallet and covered her with the blanket on the bed.

¶ 3 When Wade awoke, he noticed Amber was still in bed and under the covers.   Wade then walked to the Kmart with Nelson, who bought a new shirt.   When they left the store, Nelson changed into the new shirt, placing the one he had been wearing in a plastic bag.   They went next door to a truck stop, and when they left, Nelson no longer had the plastic bag.   He told Wade he must have left it in the bathroom at the truck stop and went back inside.   He returned without the bag and suggested that “some homeless guy” might have taken it.

¶ 4 Nelson and Wade then returned to the motel.   Amber was still in bed under the covers.   Nelson rolled up the sleeping bag he had been using and told Wade he wanted to return it to the Kmart.   On the way out, Nelson told a housekeeper “not to disturb [his] niece because [they] ha[d] a noon checkout.”   Nelson and Wade then returned the sleeping bag.

¶ 5 Upon returning to the motel, Nelson and Wade met a housekeeper who accompanied them to their room.   When they reached the room, Wade pulled the covers off Amber.   She was blue, had foam and blood coming out of her mouth, was naked from the waist down, and bleeding from her forehead.   The housekeeper called 911, but police and paramedics could not revive Amber.

¶ 6 Police officers found a bloody black sock containing a rubber mallet hidden under the bed.   They also found men’s jeans with blood on them.   The sock and jeans contained DNA from both Amber and Nelson.   Police also found Amber’s pants “turned inside out, with the panties still within them and the socks within the legs of the pants” as if “somebody had pulled them off.”   Investigating officers located the shirt Nelson left at the truck stop and the sleeping bag he had returned to the Kmart.   Both had Amber’s blood on them.

¶ 7 The medical examiner determined that the cause of Amber’s death was “blunt force trauma to the head.”   The medical examiner found Nelson’s semen on Amber’s body.

¶ 8 Nelson was charged with first-degree murder and child molestation.   He admitted killing Amber, but argued it was not premeditated.   After the State rested in the trial’s guilt phase, the superior court granted Nelson’s motion for judgment of acquittal as to child molestation and felony murder.   The jury found Nelson guilty of premeditated first-degree murder.   The jury then found proven beyond a reasonable doubt the only aggravator alleged, that Nelson was an adult and Amber was under fifteen years old at the time of the murder.   A.R.S. § 13–751(F)(9).   In the penalty phase, the jury determined that Nelson should be sentenced to death.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1598725.html