PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court has granted the warrant of execution for death row inmate Murray Hooper, scheduling him to die on Nov. 16.
The 76-year-old Hooper could be the third inmate put to death this year after Arizona recently resumed carrying out executions. The state hadn't executed anyone for eight years until Clarence Dixon was put to death on May 11.
Hooper was one of three suspects convicted of killing two people at a Phoenix residence in 1980. The other two suspects died in prison.
Hooper, William Bracy, and Edward McCall (a former Phoenix police officer) had invaded the home of Patrick Redmond as he and his family were preparing for a New Year's Eve party.
The trio held the family at gunpoint as they snatched jewelry and money from the residence. Redmond was shot in the head and his throat was slashed post-mortem. His wife, Marilyn, and mother-in-law, Helen Phelps, were both shot in the head.
Marilyn Redmond survived the attack.
The state's high court granted the motion for a warrant of Hooper's execution on Wednesday.
When Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced in July he intended to seek the warrant, he called death "the appropriate response ... for the victims, their families and our communities.”
"I'll never forget it": Prosecutor recalls most heinous case he ever worked on
Joseph Brownlee was the prosecutor on the case and he said it involved the most tragic homicides he ever handled.
“It was the most heinous crime that I've ever been involved in as a prosecutor," Brownlee said. “Mr. Redmond was shot first twice in the back of the head, a very typical execution style from Chicago. And Mrs. Phelps shot twice in the head and executed.”
Brownlee recalls Hooper and the other two criminals were hired by Robert Cruz, a Chicago-area mobster, to carry out the killings. Documents show Cruz had an interest in Patrick Redmond's business but Redmond had turned down the offer.
“Before the killers left, Murray Hooper had a very large knife and he slit Mr. Redmond's throat to send a message to somebody," Brownlee said.
Redmond's wife, Marilyn, somehow survived being shot in the head that night. She became the key witness who identified Hooper and the two other suspects, which led to their convictions in 1982.
“There is nothing like an eyewitness who stood in front of a jury and pointed right at him. 'That's the man that shot me,'" Brownlee said.
Brownlee said the courtroom was stunned when Marilyn walked into a preliminary hearing.
"The judge asked if there was any more witnesses," Brownlee said. "And I said, 'Yes, the state calls Marilyn Redmond.' The doors to the courtroom open, she walked in, and there was silence in the courtroom.
"Everybody feared that she had either died in the meantime or was dying, not able to physically walk into the courtroom and positively identify."
Hooper's attorneys have fought his execution, saying no physical evidence links him to the crime. Hooper has maintained his innocence.
“Mr. Hooper’s execution should not be carried out until an analysis of key fingerprint and DNA evidence, which was scientifically unavailable at the time of his trial, has been completed," said Kelly Culshaw, one of Hooper's attorneys.
The state hadn’t executed anyone for nearly eight years before Clarence Dixon died by lethal injection in May for the 1978 murder of a 21-year-old Arizona State University student.
Frank Atwood was executed in June at the state prison in Florence for the 1984 killing of an 8-year-old Tucson girl.
There are 111 inmates on Arizona’s death row, and 22 have exhausted their appeals, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
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