Arizona executes man who set victim on fire

FLORENCE, Ariz. — An Arizona inmate convicted of killing a man by dousing him in gasoline and then lighting a match was executed on Wednesday, prison officials said.

Leroy Dean McGill, 63, received a lethal injection of pentobarbital at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence and was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m. MT, KTVK reported.

The execution was Arizona’s first this year, after the state put one inmate to death in 2025 and two in 2023, according to KSAZ.

McGill had been on death row since he was convicted in 2004 of killing Charles Perez on July 13, 2002, the Arizona Republic reported.

McGill had been convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, arson, and endangerment after setting Perez and a woman on fire, according to KSAZ.

John Barcello, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry said McGill’s last meal included onion rings, bread and butter, chocolate cake and a green salad, KTVK reported.

He said that McGill’s last words were: “I just want to thank everyone for being so accommodating and nice.”

“Today’s process went according to plan,” Barcello said.

According to court documents, McGill threw the gasoline at Perez and his girlfriend, Nova Banta, as they sat on a couch in a North Phoenix apartment.

Perez and Banta had accused McGill of stealing a gun from the apartment before the attack, KTVK reported. At the time, McGill was using methamphetamine and had not slept in several days, court documents alleged.

Banta was severely burned but survived the attack. Perez died, according to KTVK. Three other people were able to escape from the fire, KNXV reported.

At the sentencing, the jury found McGill knowingly created a grave risk of death to persons other than the victim, and that he committed the offenses in both an “especially cruel” and an “especially heinous or depraved” manner, according to the television station.

“After more than two decades, justice was finally served for Charles Perez and the woman who survived this horrific attack,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. “What Leroy McGill did -- pouring gasoline on the victims and setting them on fire -- was among the cruelest acts imaginable.

“My thoughts are with the family of Charles Perez and the survivor, who has lived with the physical and emotional scars of that night for nearly 24 years. May this bring them some measure of peace.”

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