An Arizona prisoner who killed a man by throwing gasoline at him and lighting him on fire has been executed by lethal injection, marking the first of three planned executions across the United States this week.
Leroy Dean McGill, 63, was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m. PT Wednesday at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. McGill had been sentenced to death for the murder of Charles Perez, who was attacked alongside his girlfriend in a north Phoenix apartment in 2002.
John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, stated that McGill’s last meal consisted of onion rings, bread and butter, chocolate cake, and a green salad.
His final words were quoted as: “I just want to thank everyone for being so accommodating and nice.”
Media witness Josh Kelety from The Associated Press reported hearing McGill say at one point: “I’m going home soon.”
McGill threw gasoline and a lit match at Perez and his girlfriend, Nova Banta, as they sat on a sofa on July 13, 2002. The attack followed an accusation by the couple that McGill had stolen a gun from their apartment.
At the time, McGill was reportedly using methamphetamine and had not slept for several days. While Banta survived the ordeal, Perez died from his injuries.
During the trial, Banta testified that McGill had told her and Perez not to talk behind people’s backs before igniting them. Perez died in hospital after suffering what prosecutors described as extreme pain while Banta sustained third-degree burns over three-quarters of her body.
Jurors deliberated for less than an hour in October 2004 before convicting McGill of murder in Perez’s death, as well as attempted murder for the attack on Banta, arson, and endangerment.
McGill’s legal team had sought leniency, presenting evidence of childhood abuse, mental impairment, and psychological immaturity, but the jury ultimately returned a death sentence. A last-ditch bid for resentencing this spring was rejected by a lower-court judge, and the Arizona Supreme Court also declined a request to postpone the execution. McGill, who declined an interview request, waived his right to seek clemency.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office pursued the execution, said: “My thoughts today are with the family and the loved ones of Charles Perez and Nova Banta.”
Media witness Sean Rice from Phoenix television station KPNX observed that the “process went swimmingly. I didn’t see any issue at all finding a vein on either arm,” noting a slight twitching on the right side of McGill’s head approximately four minutes before his death.
Twelve people have been executed in the United States so far this year, with Tennessee and Florida each scheduled to carry out further executions on Thursday.
The state of Arizona carried out several executions in 2025, including those of Richard Kenneth Djerf for the 1993 killings of four members of a Phoenix family and Aaron Gunches for the 2002 fatal shooting of his girlfriend’s ex-husband.
This follows a nearly eight-year hiatus in Arizona’s use of capital punishment, prompted by difficulties in obtaining execution drugs and criticism surrounding a botched 2014 execution where Joseph Wood was injected 15 times over two hours, leading to repeated snorting and gasping before his death.
The state’s current execution protocol involves administering two syringes of the sedative pentobarbital.
