PHOENIX — A man who was convicted of killing four members of a Phoenix family over 30 years ago as an act of revenge was executed Friday, marking Arizona’s second execution of the year.
Richard Kenneth Djerf, 55, died by pentobarbital injection at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence.
County Attorney Rachel Mitchell commented on Djerf's execution in a news release shared by Maricopa County Attorney’s Office on Friday.
"There are some crimes so unspeakable, so devoid of humanity, that justice demands the ultimate punishment," Mitchell wrote. "This is that case. Richard Djerf is a prime example of why the death penalty exists."
Mitchell went on to add, "Today was a day of final justice—not only for the memory of the four innocent lives he took, but also for the only surviving son and the extended Luna family, who have carried the weight of that loss every single day."
Djerf pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of couple 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 has been in prison for over 29 years, chose not to seek clemency.
Djerf's execution is the fourth in the country this week and the 39th of the year.
Prosecutors said Djerf blamed another family member, Albert Luna Jr., who did not witness the killings, for an earlier theft of electronics 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 and stabbed and shot him; and tied Patricia and Damien Luna to kitchen chairs before fatally shooting them.
During Friday’s execution, a team of four people including medical doctors and a phlebotomist prepared syringes of saline and pentobarbital, inserted an IV and injected the chemicals into Djerf.
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. 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.
There are currently 108 prisoners on the state’s death row.
