PHOENIX - Officials with the Arizona Supreme Court say the court has affirmed the death penalty for a man who was found guilty of committing murder in Southern Arizona.
The Backstory
According to the court's opinion, Christopher John Spreitz was convicted in 1994 of first-degree murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping.
The victim, identified in court documents as Ruby Reid, was killed in a desert area outside of Tucson in 1989. Reid's body was found several days after the murder happened.
Court documents state that during a hearing that took place after the jury found Spreitz guilty, the trial court found an aggravating circumstance with regard to the crime, in that Sprietz "murdered Reid in an especially cruel manner," while finding that Spreitz, who had no prior felonies, was raised in a home environment that was described as ‘sub-normal,' and had been ‘emotionally immature at age 22, when the crime was committed, but had shown emotional growth while in confinement.’
The court, however, ultimately determined "that the especially cruel manner in which the victim died substantially outweighed all mitigating factors, whether considered separately or together," and sentenced Spreitz to death.
Per the opinion, years of legal battles followed sentencing, including a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court that was denied. In 2009, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state violated a legal standard that was set in a 1982 court ruling. Eventually, the Arizona Supreme Court agreed to a review that is "focused on correcting the constitutional error identified by the Ninth Circuit."
What we know
Christopher John Spreitz (Courtesy: Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry)
Per the Arizona Supreme Court's opinion, the review affirmed the trial court's finding that the especially cruel details of Spreitz's crime was an aggravating circumstance in sentencing.
The same review, according to court officials, also found that while a forensic psychologist confirmed that Spreitz may have been "relatively immature," the forensic psychologist also testified that Spreitz was "a person of average intelligence who was able to make appropriate decisions comparable to others of his age."
"Consequently, because of his average intelligence, ability to make decisions, and his involvement in Reid’s murder, we do not find age to be a mitigating circumstance and assign little weight to any mitigation due to immaturity," a portion of the opinion reads.
The opinion also states that the court does not believe that Spreitz "lacked the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirements of the law" due to being drunk at the time of the murder.
Per court documents, justices on the Arizona Supreme Court also assigned little weight to various mitigating circumstances claimed by Spreitz, including:
- Longstanding alcohol and drug use
- A dysfunctional family life
- Remorse
- Lack of adult convictions, due to a history of unlawful conduct despite having no convictions
- Good character
- Capability for rehabilitation
- Good behavior in prison, because "inmates are expected to be good."
What the justices are saying
"Because we find that each of the mitigating circumstances established at sentencing is entitled to little weight whether considered individually or cumulatively, we conclude that the mitigation evidence is insufficient to warrant leniency in light of the significant weight of the especially cruel aggravating circumstance," a portion of the opinion reads. "We affirm the sentence of death."
How many people are on Arizona's death row?
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & reentry's website, there are 111 people on death row, including Spreitz.
Spreitz is one of 108 men on Arizona's death row. The remaining three are women.
Only 3 women are on Arizona's death row: Who are they and what were they sentenced to death for?
Currently, an overwhelming majority of the people in Arizona's death row are men, with only three women amongst them. Here's what you should know about the women who have been sentenced to death in Arizona, and what they did that led to them being sentenced to death.