A man convicted of one of Maricopa County’s most disturbing murders is scheduled to be executed on May 20th, more than two decades after he threw gasoline and a lit match at two people sitting on a couch in a north Phoenix apartment.
Leroy Dean McGill was found guilty in 2004 of murdering Charles Perez, attempting to murder Nova Banta, and two counts of arson, along with endangering three others who escaped the burning building. Banta survived the 2002 attack but suffered third-degree burns across most of her body. The fire spread quickly enough to force people out of a neighboring unit as well.
The attack followed a dispute over a stolen gun. Perez and Banta had accused McGill of taking a firearm from their apartment before the assault.
At sentencing, the jury found that McGill had knowingly created a grave risk of death to multiple people and that the crime was carried out in a manner described as especially cruel, heinous and depraved. Prosecutors also presented evidence during the proceedings that McGill had attempted to arrange the killing of a witness while he was awaiting trial — a detail that underscored the jury’s conclusions about his character.
McGill pursued every available avenue of appeal at both the state and federal levels. By 2022, those options were exhausted. The Arizona Supreme Court subsequently granted the state’s request for a warrant of execution, with two justices recused from the matter.
The execution will be Arizona’s first of 2026 and is scheduled to be carried out by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
