State of Arizona, Appellee v. Derek Don Chappell, Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Chappell’s convictions for first-degree murder and child abuse and his death sentence. It held that the State sufficiently corroborated Chappell’s statements, the evidence supported the especially cruel aggravator, and the challenged expert testimony, prosecutorial arguments, jury instructions, penalty-phase evidence rulings, allocution limits, and deliberation ruling did not constitute reversible error. The court also declined to reach the State’s moot cross-appeal concerning disclosure of mitigation-investigator notes.