Arizona prisoner Richard Djerf apologizes before scheduled execution, declines clemency
Djerf, 55, sentenced to death for 1993 killings of four Luna family members in Phoenix; set for Oct. 17; says he won't seek clemency as Arizona resumes executions this year.
An Arizona death-row inmate apologized Thursday for the killings that led to his death sentence and said he will not seek clemency, as he awaits execution next month.
Richard Djerf, 55, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 17 for the 1993 killings of four members of the Luna family in their Phoenix home. He pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the deaths of Albert Luna Sr., his wife Patricia, and their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and 5-year-old son Damien. A judge later sentenced Djerf to death. In a handwritten note released Thursday, he said, "If I can't find reason to spare my life, what reason would anyone else have?" He added, "I hope my death brings some measure of peace." The Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which sought the warrant for the execution, declined to comment on the statement.
Djerf's case is Arizona's second death-penalty proceeding this year. Prosecutors say he entered the Luna home under a ruse claiming to deliver flowers and killed the family after blaming Albert Luna Jr. for an earlier theft of home electronics at his own apartment, an act prosecutors described as a motive for revenge.
Authorities have said Djerf sexually assaulted Rochelle Luna and slashed her throat; beat Albert Luna Sr. with an aluminum baseball bat before stabbing and shooting him; and tied Patricia Luna and Damien to kitchen chairs before fatally shooting them.
In his statement, Djerf said Albert Jr. was an innocent victim who came home to discover what Djerf had done to his family. "No part of what I did to his family, or why, was ever his fault," Djerf wrote.
The Associated Press was unable to reach Luna through phone listings or court records for comment, and legal representatives involved in the case did not provide additional remarks.
Arizona, which currently has 108 prisoners on death row, last used the death penalty in mid-March when it executed Aaron Brian Gunches in the 2002 killing of Ted Price. The state carried out three executions in 2022 after an eight-year hiatus that followed criticism of a botched 2014 execution. In that year, Joseph Wood received 15 doses of a two-drug combination over about two hours before dying.
The October execution would mark the second time in 2025 that Arizona has carried out a death sentence, continuing a long-running but contentious chapter in the state’s approach to capital punishment.
