PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors are still pursuing the death penalty against a Mexican immigrant charged with murder in the 2015 killing of a convenience store clerk in metro Phoenix during a robbery, even though a judge has twice dismissed the bid to seek his execution because he has been deemed intellectually disabled.
Prosecutors asked the Arizona Court of Appeals to reverse a lower-court ruling that dismissed the state’s intent to seek the death penalty against Apolinar Altamirano and concluded Altamirano’s intellectual deficits affected his ability to meet the standard of personal independence and social responsibility.
Altamirano pleaded not guilty to charges in the killing of Grant Ronnebeck.
