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Arizona executes Murray Hooper after 1980 murders

Murray Hooper
Arizona Department of Corrections
Murray Hooper

On Wednesday morning, the state executed death row inmate Murray Hooper by lethal injection at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence.

The Maricopa County Superior Court convicted Hooper in 1982 for his role in the 1980 New Year’s Eve murders of William Patrick Redmond and Helen Genevieve Phelps.

Redmond; his wife, Marilyn Redmond; and Phelps were setting up a small party for the new year at their home in Phoenix when two men — one being Hooper — raided the house. Marilyn Redmond was also shot, but survived and was later able to identify Hooper as the one who shot her.

He was then placed on death row in 1983.

In May, Arizona resumed executions after inmate Joseph Wood's botched lethal injection in 2014 that temporarily stopped capital punishment. 

Hooper is the third person this year to be executed in Arizona. 

Ashley Madrigal was an intern at KJZZ in 2022.