The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of Edward Littleton McCauley, rejecting the Glendale man’s appeal in the 2014 killing of his estranged wife, Dawn McCauley.
In a ruling issued Friday, the state’s highest court acknowledged errors occurred during jury selection but concluded the mistakes did not unfairly prejudice the defendant or affect the outcome of the trial.
McCauley had sought to overturn both his first-degree murder conviction and his death sentence, alleging prosecutorial misconduct and violations of his constitutional rights during court proceedings. The justices ultimately affirmed the original verdict handed down by a Maricopa County jury in late 2019.
Prosecutors said McCauley ambushed 45-year-old Dawn McCauley outside her Glendale home on Nov. 24, 2014, waiting for her as she prepared to leave for work before firing eight shots into her vehicle. Authorities said he then sent a series of profanity-filled text messages to members of the victim’s family in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
He was arrested the following day at a restaurant in the West Valley.
Jurors convicted McCauley of first-degree murder in December 2019. A judge later imposed the death penalty after prosecutors argued the killing was carried out in an especially cruel manner.
McCauley remains among the 109 inmates currently on Arizona’s death row. The decision arrives as the state prepares to carry out its first execution of 2026, with condemned inmate Leroy Dean McGill scheduled to be put to death next week for a separate 2002 murder case.
