Arizona man to face death penalty next month, third from death row executed this year

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state can move forward with the execution of death row inmate Murray Hooper next month.

The state’s high court granted the motion for a warrant of execution of the 76-year-old. He will die by lethal injection or gas in an execution scheduled for November 16th, according to the warrant signed by four justices.

Hooper would be the third inmate put to death this year after Arizona recently resumed carrying out executions.

He and two co-defendants were sentenced to death for the murders of William “Pat” Redmond and his mother-in-law, Helen Phelps, during a home robbery in Phoenix. Redmond’s wife, Marilyn, was also shot in the head but recovered.

Hooper’s defense team filed a petition in September in Maricopa County Superior Court requesting post-conviction DNA and other forensic testing.

The petition argues Hooper was convicted in 1982, before the availability of computerized fingerprinting systems and DNA testing was available.