Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard 2010 Annual Report

Criminal Division (continued)
counts of first-degree premedi-
State v. Cayeros
body was found in the desert;
State v. Guillen
aggravated assault, two counts
tated murder. Judge Michael D.
Ryan, now on the Arizona Supreme
Court, sentenced King to
death for each of the murders.
The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed
his convictions and death
sentences.
For the next decade and half,
the King case was appealed
through the state and federal
courts. Finally in March 2009,
the U.S. Supreme Court declined
to hear the case for the second
time. When the State moved
for Warrant of Execution shortly
afterwards, King responded that
he would file a post-conviction
relief petition challenging Arizona’s
lethal injection protocol.
The trial court dismissed King’s
petition in March 2010. King
recently asked the Arizona
Supreme Court to review that
decision.
Johnny Daniel Cayeros was
a gang leader in the Grant
Park neighborhood of South
Phoenix. In March 2001, he
shot John Flores multiple times
with a shotgun. In addition to
killing Flores, he injured two
other people, Ray Osuna and
Mark Barehand. The State was
unable to take the case to trial
until an additional eyewitness
came forward five years ago
and placed the shotgun in
Cayeros’ hands. The Court of
Appeals has not decided his
appeal.
Spears v. Ryan
In 1991, Anthony Spears came
to Arizona to visit Jeanette
Beaulieu, who considered herself
Spears’ girlfriend (although
Spears was actually living with
a woman in San Diego). Spears
returned to California with items
that belonged to Jeanette and
was driving her truck. Jeanette’s
nearby was a shell casing identified
as having been fired from
Spears’ gun. He was convicted
of murder and sentenced to
death. Spears raised 17 claims
in his federal habeas petition.
On September 14, 2009, the
district court denied Spears’
requests for evidentiary development,
denied all of his claims,
and dismissed the habeas
petition. The case is currently
pending in the Ninth Circuit.
Poyson v. Ryan
On January 20, 2010, District
Court Judge Neil Wake denied
Robert Allen Poyson’s federal
habeas corpus petition. Poyson
received three death sentences
in connection with the brutal
killings of Leta Kagen, Robert
Delahunt, and Roland Wear
in 1996 in Mohave County.
Poyson’s appeal is currently
pending before the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals.
The case involved a canine sniff
conducted on the exterior of
Jose Guillen’s residence which
uncovered the presence of
marijuana. The police searched
the residence after getting the
consent of his wife. The case
presented an issue of first
impression in Arizona, whether
the state right to privacy in the
circumstances of this case afforded
greater protections than
the Fourth Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution. Ultimately the
State won the case because the
court found the wife’s consent
to have been valid.
State v. Far West Water &
Sewer, Inc.
The Arizona Court of Appeals
affirmed the convictions and
sentences of Far West Water
and Sewer, Inc., an Arizona Corporation,
for negligent homicide,
of endangerment, and violating
a safety standard or regulation
that caused the death on
an employee. The convictions
arose out of an incident at a
sewage collection and treatment
facility owned and operated by
Far West in which two people
died and a third suffered serious
injuries after being overcome by
hydrogen sulfide gas. The court
also affirmed the convictions of
Brent Weidman, the president
and chief executive officer of
Far West, on two counts of negligent
homicide and two counts
of endangerment arising out of
the same incident.
State v. Soliz
Article 2, Section 23 of the
Arizona Constitution requires
that “juries in criminal cases in
which a sentence of imprisonment
for 30 years or more is
authorized by law shall consist
of 12 persons.” Given the com-
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard • 2010 Annual Report
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