Highlights

LeRoy McGill was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m. on May 20 after the state of Arizona carried out his death sentence by lethal injection, according to Arizona Capitol Times reporter Brock Blasdell, who witnessed the execution. McGill was convicted of the first-degree murder of Charles Perez, whom he doused in gasoline and set on fire in July 2002. The killing was also corroborated by AP News and the Arizona Mirror.

The crime occurred in the early hours of July 12, 2002, when McGill, high on methamphetamine, entered a Phoenix apartment where Perez and Nova Banta were seated on a couch. According to Banta's account in the court record, McGill said they should not talk behind people's backs, then doused the two in gasoline and threw a lit match. Perez died at the hospital with 80% of his body burned. Banta survived with third-degree burns to three quarters of her body. A jury returned a death sentence in November 2004. McGill was indicted on March 11, 2003, for first-degree murder, and the state shortly after sent notice it planned to seek the death penalty, finding McGill had a prior conviction, that his presence created a grave risk of death to others, and that he had committed the murder in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner.

In the execution chamber, a man named Grover "Bubba" Ridgeway, who had known McGill from their time at Boysville, a children's shelter in San Antonio, held his fist in the air as the medical team administered the lethal drugs. The two had connected by phone years later and met in person for the first time in the execution chamber. According to Ridgeway, physical and sexual abuse was rampant at Boysville, and the court record reflects McGill did not emerge from that period unscathed. Substance abuse traced back to his time there and remained a constant through the years leading up to the crime. McGill's last words, per the Capitol Times account, were thanks to those present for being accommodating and a statement that he was going home. A priest administered last rites and continued to pray as the pentobarbital took effect.

Attorney General Kris Mayes, who holds statutory authority to select which death row inmates are subject to execution, said at a press conference that her office had developed a thoughtful and well-reasoned methodology for those decisions, weighing factors including cruelty, whether children were murdered, and whether police officers were killed in the line of duty. On McGill specifically, Mayes pointed directly to the method of killing. "Look, this particular individual killed a person using Styrofoam and gasoline," Mayes said. "And that's obviously extremely heinous, so that's why I made this selection."

The styrofoam allegation has a complicated evidentiary history. McGill himself first raised it in a post-arrest interview with a detective, claiming someone else had combined styrofoam and gasoline to create a gel that made the fire harder to put out. The detail was disputed throughout his post-conviction proceedings, with McGill arguing his trial attorney failed to call an arson witness or adequately cross-examine the state's experts. One of the state's own trial witnesses found no indication of styrofoam in his tests, though he noted he did not specifically test the composition of the victims' clothing. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals described the state's presentation of evidence on the issue as inconsistent at best. The state maintained throughout that setting two people on fire satisfied the cruel, depraved and heinous standard for a death sentence regardless of the styrofoam question.

McGill's final legal attempt, filed after the Arizona Supreme Court issued a warrant for his execution, alleged deficiencies in his trial attorney, false statements to the jury about his parole eligibility, and tainted witness testimony. A judge found all claims untimely, precluded, or both. McGill declined to appeal further and waived his right to seek clemency, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

This was the third execution under Mayes. The first came after death row inmate Aaron Gunches sought his own death. Her office then selected Richard Djerf, convicted of murdering four members of the Luna family. Mayes framed the McGill execution as a matter of statutory obligation, saying Arizona voters and courts have affirmed the death penalty as the law of the state and that enforcing it is her duty as the state's top law enforcement official. Banta, along with family and friends of Perez, stayed out of the legal proceedings and the execution. Mayes said her thoughts were with the family and loved ones of Charles Perez and with Nova Banta.

Why did the 9th Circuit raise concerns but the execution proceed?

The 9th Circuit found the state's evidence on the styrofoam aggravating factor inconsistent at best, but the court did not overturn McGill's conviction or sentence. The state's position, upheld through multiple rounds of appeals, was that setting two people on fire independently satisfied the heinous, cruel and depraved standard required for a death sentence under Arizona law, making the styrofoam question legally collateral to the outcome.

No further appeals are pending. The execution was the third carried out under Attorney General Mayes.

Sources

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  1. azcapitoltimes.com retrieved 20/05/2026 22:31
  2. apnews.com retrieved 20/05/2026 22:31

Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 20/05/2026 22:31. Every claim traces to a source.