PHOENIX — More than two decades after a deadly apartment fire in north Phoenix claimed one life and left another person severely burned, Arizona executed Leroy McGill by lethal injection on Wednesday morning at the state prison complex in Florence.
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McGill was sentenced to death for the July 13, 2002, attack that killed Charles Perez and critically injured Nova Banta in a Sunnyslope-area duplex fire that investigators said was intentionally set.
Former Phoenix police homicide detective Tommy Kulesa, who helped investigate the case and arrest McGill, tells 12News they were sent to the scene when it started as an arson investigation.
“We got dispatched out to a fire, a structure fire with people that had been injured inside, and the fire we were told was deliberately set,” Kulesa said.
When detectives arrived at the duplex, Perez and Banta had already been transported to the hospital. Another occupant, Jack Yates, suffered minor injuries.
“At the time that we arrived, no one was deceased yet,” Kulesa said.
According to investigators, McGill had been staying at the duplex with his girlfriend before tensions escalated between the residents. Housemates accused McGill and his girlfriend of stealing a shotgun, an allegation detectives believe enraged him.
Kulesa said McGill returned to the apartment early that morning carrying gasoline mixed with dissolved Styrofoam, a combination investigators said created a gel-like accelerant that intensified the fire.
“What that does is it makes the subsequent fire burn hotter and harder to put out,” Kulesa explained.
Investigators said McGill poured the accelerant on Perez and Banta before igniting it.
“He then threw the gasoline on Charles Perez and Nova Banta and lit them on fire,” Kulesa said.
Perez later died at the hospital. Banta survived but suffered burns over 75% of her body.
McGill was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Two years later, he was convicted after a jury deliberated for less than an hour, according to court records. During the penalty phase, jurors sentenced him to death.
As Arizona prepares to carry out the execution, Kulesa said he believes the voices that matter most on his execution belong to the victims and their families rather than investigators or outside observers.
“I’m of the belief that my opinion doesn’t matter on it,” Kulesa said. “I believe in a case like this, the only people whose opinions matter are Charles Perez’s family, Nova Banta and her family, and Leroy McGill’s family.”
Although he supports the appeals process for death row inmates, Kulesa said his focus remains on the victims.
“Leroy McGill has the ability to talk for himself right now,” he said. “Charles Perez doesn’t. Someone has to talk for him.”
After exhausting his appeals, McGill’s execution was scheduled following a warrant issued by the Arizona Supreme Court earlier this year.
The execution happened in Florence. 12News reporter Sean Rice was a media witness inside the death chamber when McGill took his last breath. 12News had a preview on Today in AZ and a recap of how the execution went on evening editions of 12News.
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