State of Arizona, Appellee v. Shawn Patrick Lynch, Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Lynch’s death sentence after reviewing numerous claims concerning prosecutorial misconduct, the scope of the penalty-phase retrial, jury instructions, juror challenges, the constitutionality of lethal injection, and the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. It held that some prosecutorial remarks were improper, but none individually or cumulatively deprived Lynch of a fair trial, and the remaining alleged errors did not warrant relief. The court independently determined that the pecuniary-gain and especially-cruel aggravators were proven and that the mitigation was not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.