Arizona executes a man for killing 4 members of a family in Phoenix in 1993

Audio By Carbonatix

FLORENCE, Arizona (AP) — A man convicted of killing four members of a Phoenix family over 30 years ago in an act of revenge over stolen goods was put to death Friday in Arizona’s second execution of the year.

Richard Kenneth Djerf, 55, died by lethal injection for the killings of Albert Luna Sr. and Patricia Luna; their daughter Rochelle Luna, 18; and son Damien Luna, 5, at their home on Sept. 14, 1993. Djerf, who was in prison for over 29 years, chose not to seek clemency.

His execution was the fourth in the country this week and the 39th of the year.

“Those four innocent victims deserve justice, and their loved ones deserve closure,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office sought the execution.

Prosecutors said Djerf blamed another family member, Albert Luna Jr., who did not witness the killings, for an earlier theft of electronics and a gun from his apartment. Djerf became obsessed with exacting revenge and went to the home months later claiming to be delivering flowers, prosecutors said.

Authorities say Djerf sexually assaulted Rochelle Luna and slashed her throat; beat Albert Luna Sr. with an aluminum baseball bat then stabbed and shot him; and tied Patricia and Damien Luna to kitchen chairs before fatally shooting them.

Djerf declined to make any last statement. He did not put up any resistance but took a few heavy breaths and emitted a brief snoring sound after the lethal drugs were administered, John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, said during a news conference Friday.

No representatives of the victims were present, Barcello said.

It took about 10 minutes for the execution team to insert the IV lines into his veins so the drugs could be administered. After the first of two pentobarbital shots were given, he made several sounds, including a grunt and puffing sound. About 15 minutes elapsed between the first pentobarbital shot and the declaration that he was dead.

Barcello said Djerf’s veins “were not optimal” and it required a few attempts to successfully place the IV.

“By all accounts the process went according to plan and without any incident,” Barcello said. A month ago, Djerf released a statement in which he acknowledged carrying out the killings and apologized for the pain he caused.

Arizona has been criticized in the past for taking too long to insert IVs during lethal injection executions. Experts say it should take seven to 10 minutes from the beginning of insertion until a proclamation of death.

The state has paused executions twice since 2014 amid concerns over its use of the death penalty.

There was a nearly eight-year hiatus brought on by difficulties in obtaining the needed drugs and criticism that a 2014 execution was botched: Joseph Wood was injected with 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours, leading him to snort repeatedly and gasp hundreds of times before he died.

Executions resumed in 2022, and three prisoners were put to death that year. They were paused again in 2023 after Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered a review of the capital punishment protocol and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes agreed not to pursue any executions.

The review ended in November 2024, when Hobbs fired a retired federal magistrate she had appointed to examine execution procedures, and the state corrections department announced changes in the lethal injection team.

Arizona last carried out a death sentence in mid-March, executing Aaron Brian Gunches for the 2002 killing of Ted Price.

With Djerf’s execution, there are now 107 prisoners on Arizona’s death row.

Five more executions are scheduled in the U.S. this year — two in Florida and one each in Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

___

Billeaud reported from Phoenix.