State of Arizona, Appellee v. Leroy D. Cropper, Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Cropper's death sentence after a second penalty-phase jury found the murder especially cruel and determined that death was warranted. It held that retrying the penalty phase after the first jury deadlocked did not violate the ex post facto clauses, and that the prosecutor's explanation of the cruelty aggravator was not misconduct. On independent review, the court found the cruelty aggravator proven beyond a reasonable doubt and concluded that the substantial aggravating circumstances outweighed Cropper's comparatively weak mitigation.