John Allen—white, age 23 (see also Sammantha Allen, below)

Sentenced in Maricopa County, Arizona
By: a jury
Date of Crime: 7/11/11
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Allen and his wife Sammantha sought to discipline her 10-year-old cousin by locking her in a 31-inch-long box overnight in the heat of an Arizona summer. The child died. The death was the culmination of continuing child abuse inflicted by the Allens and other adults in the household. Allen denied having intent to harm the child and said the result was an accident. Other information on the defense approach to the case was not available.
Sources: azcentral.com 11/16/17

Sammantha Allen—white, age 23 (see also John Allen, above)

Sentenced in Maricopa County, Arizona
By: a jury
Date of Crime: 7/11/11
Prosecution’s case/defense response: See John Allen, above. The defense presented evidence that Allen’s harsh upbringing led her to believe the child’s punishment was acceptable; and pointed out that she had no criminal record.
Sources: Arizona Republic 7/14/17 (2017 WLNR 21488473), 8/18/17 (2017 WLNR 24399058)

Alan Champagne—Native American, age 40

Sentenced in Maricopa County, Arizona
By: a jury
Date of Crime: mid-2011
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Champagne murdered two women in 2011 and buried them in his mother’s back yard. The bodies were not found until 2013. In the meantime he had been convicted for opening fire on a SWAT team that was trying to arrest him on another warrant. He also had a prior murder conviction from 1991. No information was found regarding the defense approach to the case.
Sources: Arizona Republic 6/23/17 (2017 WLNR 19402183), 9/9/17 (2017 WLNR 27795119)

Preston Strong—black, age 38

Sentenced in Yuma County, Arizona
By: a jury
Date of Crime: 6/24/05
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Strong was convicted of murdering a man, a woman, and the woman’s four children, three of whom were 12-years-old or younger. As to a possible motive, according to the prosecution the male victim had been loaning the unemployed Strong about $1,000 every two weeks, but had stopped doing so. Strong had already been convicted of the murder of a Yuma physician in a separate trial, and had numerous other felony convictions. He also had numerous disciplinary infractions while incarcerated including making death threats about prosecutors and deputies. The defense pointed out that Strong had worked with severely mentally ill persons. In addressing the jury Strong proclaimed his innocence.
Sources: Sun (Yuma) 5/4/17 (2017 WLNR 14140471), 5/5/17 (2017 WLNR 14156820)