Leroy Dean McGill, a man scheduled to receive a lethal injection in May 2026, is a convicted murderer who caused the death of Charles Perez with a fire attack and assaulted Nova Banta. He was convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to death.
‘That’s how broke the school district is’: Crystal City ISD has less than $500, interim superintendent says What we know about Marlene Vidal, the South Texas mother charged with capital murder of her 2 childrenWhat to know about Spurs’ official watch parties for Game 2 against ThunderFILE - This undated photo provided by Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry shows prisoner Leroy McGill, who is scheduled to be executed on May 20, 2026, in the 2002 killing of Charles Perez .
FILE - A sign points in the direction of the Arizona State Prison in Florence, Ariz. , March 19, 2025. FILE - This undated photo provided by Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry shows prisoner Leroy McGill, who is scheduled to be executed on May 20, 2026, in the 2002 killing of Charles Perez .
Leroy Dean McGill, 63, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection of pentobarbital at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. He was convicted of murder in the July 2002 death of Charles Perez. Authorities said McGill threw the gasoline and a lit match at Perez and Perez’s girlfriend, Nova Banta, as they sat on a sofa in a north Phoenix apartment on July 13 of that year.
Perez and Banta had accused McGill of stealing a gun from the apartment before the attack. At the time, McGill was using methamphetamine and hadn’t slept in several days. Twelve people have been executed so far this year in the United States. Tennessee and Florida each are scheduled to carry out an execution Thursday.
At the Arizona trial, Banta testified that McGill told her and Perez not to talk behind people's backs. Before they could respond, McGill lit them on fire, authorities said. Perez and Banta ran out of the apartment. Another man who lived in the apartment used a blanket to put out the flames on Banta, who suffered third-degree burns over three-quarters of her body.
Perez died later at a hospital after suffering what prosecutors described as extreme pain. Jurors deliberated for less than an hour before convicting McGill of murder in Perez’s death in October 2004. He also was convicted of attempted murder for attacking Banta, arson and endangerment of people who escaped without injuries when the fire forced them to flee the apartment and a nearby unit where flames spread.
McGill’s lawyers had argued for leniency by presenting evidence about abuse he suffered as a child as well as mental impairment and psychological immaturity. The jury ultimately returned the death sentence. This spring, McGill’s lawyers made a last-ditch bid to get him resentenced, but a lower-court judge rejected it. The Arizona Supreme Court also declined a request from McGill’s lawyers to postpone the execution.
McGill, who declined an interview request from The Associated Press, waived his right to seek clemency.following a nearly eight-year hiatus brought on by difficulties obtaining execution drugs and by criticism that a 2014 execution was botched. In that execution, Joseph Wood was injected withof a two-drug combination over two hours, leading him to snort repeatedly and gasp hundreds of times before he died.
The state’s execution protocol calls for administering two syringes of the sedative pentobarbital, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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