Key Points:

• Richard Djerf will be second man executed in Arizona this year

• Djerf will likely be executed between August and September

• The motion signals Kris Mayes’ continued support of state executions

Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a motion to pursue the second execution of her tenure, selecting Richard Djerf, a man convicted for the 1993 murder of four members of the Luna family – Albert, 47, Patricia, 42, Rochelle, 18, and Damien, 5. 

Mayes filed a motion to set a briefing schedule for the warrant of execution on May 22. In doing so, she affirmed her commitment to upholding capital punishment in the state. 

“I will continue to enforce the death penalty because it is the law in Arizona and victims deserve justice. The heinous murders by Richard Djerf of the Luna family, including their five year old son, shock the conscience – and their loved ones have waited 32 years to see justice served,” Mayes said in a statement. “My office is committed to upholding the rule of law and standing with victims who have endured unimaginable loss.”

Djerf was mentioned as a likely candidate for the next death warrant by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell at a press conference on April 23. In announcing her pick, Mitchell detailed Djerf’s crime. 

“I remain committed to doing what’s necessary to make sure that victim’s families get the closure that they deserve,” Mitchell said.

According to court documents, Djerf committed the quadruple homicide as an act of revenge after Albert Luna, Jr., Djerf’s coworker at Safeway, broke into his apartment and stole electronics and a firearm in January 1993. 

Djerf was sentenced to death in 1996 after pleading guilty to four counts of first degree murder as part of a deal with the state. He exhausted his appeals in 2019. 

The motion to set a briefing schedule leaves filings for the Arizona Supreme Court to conference and ultimately rule on a warrant for execution. The process also kickstarts the task of preparing and testing drugs to be used in the upcoming execution at the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. 

The state anticipates filing its motion for a warrant of execution on July 3, with a response from Djerf due on July 17, a reply on July 24, and a conference at the Arizona Supreme Court on July 29. Djerf will likely be executed between August and September.

Djerf marks the second death sentence carried out since the state put a pause on capital punishment in 2023 for both an internal and external, though cut short, review of lethal injection procedures.