By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona executed 63-year-old Leroy Dean McGill for the 2002 murder of Charles Perez after he spent more than 20 years on death row.
Read more ICE claims DACA recipient detained in Tucson assaulted agent
McGill did not resist during the execution process, said John Marcello, Arizona Department of Corrections deputy director.
With McGill’s execution, 109 people remain on Arizona’s death row. McGill spent more than 20 years waiting for his fate to be sealed.
Why death penalty cases take decades
When a death sentence is given, it triggers a long legal process. Once an execution goes forward, there is no way to undo a mistake.
“The big question people ask is, why does it take so long?” said attorney Benjamin Taylor, who has handled multiple death penalty cases.
“The death penalty is the ultimate punishment,” Taylor said. “Once the death penalty is implemented, you can’t reverse it. It’s done.”
Once someone is sentenced to death, the decision is automatically appealed.
“Usually the first appeal is to the Arizona Supreme Court, and after that is to the Ninth Circuit,” Taylor said. “And ultimately, each court will decide whether or not they believe that the case was done correctly at the trial court level or not.”
Read more Domestic violence suspect shot by police at Glendale pawn shop
Taylor said the appeals process alone can take years as the courts reexamine how the trial was handled.
“They can still get a new trial too, because they want to make sure ultimately the person gets a fair trial and that you’re executing the right person, that they are found guilty,” Taylor said.
Arizona’s troubled execution history
Arizona’s death row has faced scrutiny after executions were suspended 12 years ago. Executions were put on hold after a 2014 case when Joseph Wood was given repeated lethal injections that took nearly two hours before he was pronounced dead.
“Even though they are on death row, they still have rights,” Taylor said. “And you want to make sure that they’re executed properly and fairly.”
Arizona resumed executions in 2022. Last year, the state executed two people.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Read more 3 dead and more than a dozen first responders exposed to unknown substance, officials say