A man convicted of killing four members of a Phoenix family more than 30 years ago in an act of revenge over stolen goods was executed in Arizona on Friday in his second execution of the year.
Richard Kenneth Djerf, 55, died by lethal injection for killing Albert Luna Sr. and Patricia Luna; their daughter Rochelle Luna, 18; and son Damien Luna, 5, 1993. September 14 in your home. Djerf, who has been in prison for more than 29 years, has decided not to ask for clemency.
His execution was the fourth in the country this week and the 39th this 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, in an earlier theft of electronics and a gun from his apartment. Djerf became obsessed with the revenge he needed and went to the home a few months later claiming to deliver flowers, prosecutors said.
Authorities say Djerf sexually assaulted Rochelle Luna and cut 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 final statements. He did not resist but took several labored breaths and let out short snorts after the lethal drugs were administered, John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, said at a news conference Friday.
Barcello said there were no representatives for the victims.
It took the execution team about 10 minutes to insert IV lines into his vein to administer the drugs. After the first of two injections of pentobarbital, he made several sounds, including grunting and blowing. It took about 15 minutes from the first shot of pentobarbital to the time he was pronounced dead.
Barcello said Djerf’s veins were “not optimal” and it took several attempts to successfully place the IV.
“Basically, the process went according to plan without incident,” Barcello said. A month ago, Djerf issued a statement admitting to the murders and apologizing for the pain he had caused.
Arizona has been criticized in the past for taking too long to insert IVs during lethal injections. Experts say that seven to ten minutes should pass between the start of the insertion and the declaration of death.
Since 2014 the state has twice suspended executions due to concerns about the use of the death penalty.
There was a gap of almost eight years, caused by difficulties in finding the necessary drugs and criticism that in 2014 the execution was botched: Joseph Wood was given 15 doses of a combination of two drugs over two hours, causing him to grunt several times and gasp hundreds of times before dying.
The executions resumed in 2022, and three prisoners were executed that year. They were suspended again in 2023 when Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered a review of the death penalty protocol and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes agreed not to carry out any executions.
The review ended in 2024. in November, when Hobbs fired a retired federal magistrate she had appointed to review execution procedures and the state Department of Corrections announced changes to its lethal injection team.
Arizona’s last execution was in mid-March, when it executed Aaron Brian Gunches for the 2002 murder of Ted Price.
With Djerf’s execution, Arizona now has 107 inmates.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, five more executions are scheduled in the U.S. this year — two in Florida and one each in Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
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Billeaud reported from Phoenix.