USA - Arizona. The Arizona Supreme Court reduced the death sentence of Shawn Grell to life in prison without possibility of parole

The Arizona Supreme Court reduced the death sentence of Shawn Grell, 37, white, to life in prison, without possibility of parole, because of evidence he is mentally retarded. Grell was sentenced twice to death for the Dec. 2, 1999 gruesome murder of his 2-year-old daughter, Kristen, once by a judge and once by a jury, with both focused on whether he is retarded and if he could be held responsible for her death. On December 2, 1999, Grell took Kristen to a remote area in Apache Junction, doused her with gasoline, and set her on fire. After Kristen was engulfed in flames, she managed to walk around and stomp her feet for up to 60 seconds before collapsing in the dirt. Grell pleaded guilty to murdering the girl, leaving the mental retardation issue the focus of his sentencing. Now-retired Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Jarrett sentenced Grell to death in 2001 (see July 9, 2001), ruling that Grell's attorneys did not prove conclusively that he is mentally retarded. The state Supreme Court ordered a 2nd sentencing when Arizona's death penalty law was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court (see June 6, 2006), which required that jurors, not judges, establish the aggravating factors for the death penalty. After the evidence was presented to jurors, they sentenced Grell to death again on July 27, 2009 (see), a ruling that triggered an automatic appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.