What happened: Judge Jennifer Green, who oversees Maricopa Superior Court’s criminal division, has quietly implemented a program aimed at facilitating faster resolution of death penalty cases in Arizona’s most populous county.
The court began ordering the prosecution and defense to participate in settlement conferences two years after filing a notice seeking the death penalty, according to a court statement. The orders are intended to “encourage” settlement negotiations in capital cases, which often drag on for many years to result in a reduction of charges by prosecutors.
Court officials said current and retired judges would conduct the hearings.
Why this happens: A investigation conducted by ProPublica and ABC15 Arizona revealed in June that Maricopa County prosecutors frequently use the death penalty but rarely obtain death sentences.
Of nearly 350 cases over a 20-year period, only 13% resulted in a death sentence. The findings raised questions about the office’s decision to pursue the death penalty, said former Maricopa County Prosecutor Rick Romley, who called for a review of capital punishment decisions after news outlets told him of their findings.
“Once you allege death, the whole game changes,” Romley told ProPublica and ABC15 at the time. “A lot of additional resources are being devoted to this particular case.”
Capital cases can be litigated under warrants from multiple county prosecutors and cost more than $1 million each to prosecute. In the hundreds of death penalty cases filed in Maricopa County since 2007, the cost of providing the accused with an adequate defense alone has amounted to $289 million. That figure does not include prosecution costs, which the county attorney’s office says are not recorded in a way that can be tracked separately.
Romley praised the court for implementing the settlement conferences. “The courts have recognized that this is not the right way to proceed,” he said, adding that the orders could speed up other aspects of cases, such as discovery. Victims could also benefit from a quicker resolution, he said. “If I were a prosecutor, I would accept it,” he said.
Arizona resumed executions in 2025 after a two-year hiatus. Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, ordered a review of the state’s lethal injection process in 2022, but she impeached retired federal magistrate judge she had been appointed to perform the analysis after he determined that the lethal injection was not humanhe said.
There are 107 people in Arizona death row.
What people say: Rosemarie Peña-Lynch, director of Maricopa County Public Defender Services, said in a statement that public defenders are engaged in a process that “provides the opportunity to explore potential case resolutions while safeguarding the constitutional rights of our clients.”
Maricopa County Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, a Republican, said at a news conference in November that she was “for anything that would expedite this process.” But, she added, prosecutors seek death in cases “where we believe the death penalty is warranted.”
Asked about holding settlement conferences two years after such cases begin, she said: “It’s not usually a situation where the death penalty is dropped…on the whim of a plea deal. It’s dropped because maybe the evidence changes, or, for example, witnesses die, or something like that. I don’t know if that will help or not, but if it does, that’s great.”
What’s next: Last month, Green issued an order in a death penalty case to set a settlement hearing within two years. Green’s order, in a case against two men accused of killing a Tempe woman, cites a criminal procedure rule requiring capital cases to be resolved within 24 months of the state’s death notice.
On December 3, Mitchell announced that his office would seek the death penalty against
Cudjoe Young and Sencere Hayes, who were previously charged with the April 17, 2023 murder of 22-year-old Mercedes Vega. Young and Hayes have pleaded not guilty.
An autopsy report showed that Vega, who was still alive when she was left in a burning Chevrolet Malibu, died of blunt force injuries and was shot in the arm. A medical examiner also found bleach in his throat, according to ABC15.
“We will continue to seek justice for Mercedes Vega and her family,” Mitchell said. a declaration.
