A man convicted of burning a Phoenix resident to death in a horrific 2002 apartment attack was executed Wednesday in Arizona, ending a case that prosecutors said left one victim dead and another permanently scarred.
According to the New York Post, Leroy Dean McGill, 63, received a lethal injection at the Arizona State Prison Complex and was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m. local time, prison officials said.
Moments before the execution, McGill thanked those involved in carrying it out.
“I just want to thank everyone for being so accommodating and nice,” he said in his final statement, according to John Barcello of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
Witnesses said McGill appeared calm before the injection began. An Associated Press reporter present at the execution said the inmate smiled, nodded toward witnesses, and at one point remarked, “I’m going home soon.”
Officials said McGill was given pentobarbital. After the drugs were administered, he reportedly began breathing heavily and making snoring sounds before eventually being declared dead roughly 21 minutes later.
Before the execution, McGill ate a final meal that included onion rings, bread and butter, chocolate cake, and a green salad, according to Fox10 Phoenix.
McGill had been sentenced to death for a brutal July 2002 attack inside a north Phoenix apartment.
According to prosecutors, McGill threw gasoline on Charles Perez and Perez’s girlfriend, Nova Banta, while the pair sat on a couch. Authorities said he then set them on fire.
Perez later died at a hospital after suffering severe injuries. Banta survived the attack but sustained third-degree burns over much of her body.
Investigators said the fire spread through the apartment building, forcing residents to flee as flames moved rapidly through the complex.
Court records showed Perez and Banta had accused McGill of stealing a gun from the apartment before the violence erupted.
McGill later claimed he had been using methamphetamine and had not slept for several days at the time of the attack.
A jury convicted him in October 2024 on charges that included murder, attempted murder, arson, and endangerment.
Jurors reportedly needed less than an hour to reach a guilty verdict in the murder case.
During sentencing, McGill’s attorneys argued he deserved leniency because of childhood abuse, mental impairment, and what they described as psychological immaturity.
His legal team also made a final effort earlier this year to have him resentenced, but a judge rejected the request.
The execution marked Arizona’s first this week, with additional executions scheduled in Tennessee and Florida.
