Murderer who killed family begs for forgiveness - weeks before his death row date

A murderer who killed four members of a family - including a five-year-old boy - has written a letter to beg for forgiveness.

Richard Djerf is scheduled to be executed next month for the murders of the Luna family in their own home more than 30 years ago. However, he has now apologised for the pain he caused, authorities said. They have released the short letter, which reads: "If I can’t find reason to spare my life, what reason would anyone else have? I hope my death brings some measure of peace."

But Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which sought the warrant for Djerf’s execution, has declined to comment on the statement. Djerf, 55, is still set to receive the lethal injection on October 17 as it stands, decades after the deaths of Albert Luna Sr, his wife Patricia and their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and five-year-old son Damien.

Prosecutors say Djerf blamed another Luna family member, Albert Luna Jr, for an earlier theft of home electronic items at his apartment, became obsessed with revenge and months later entered the home in Phoenix, Arizona, under a ruse in which he claimed to be delivering flowers.

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If it goes ahead, the execution will be Arizona’s second use of the death penalty this year. Florida, though, leads the way in executions this year with 12 after its latest capital punishment this week. David Joseph Pittman was put to death by lethal injection following a three-decade stay on death row after his murder.

Authorities say Djerf sexually assaulted Rochelle in 1993 and slashed her throat; beat Albert Luna Sr with an aluminum baseball bat before stabbing and shooting him; and tied Patricia Luna and Damien to kitchen chairs before fatally shooting them.

But in his statement released on Thursday, Djerf said Albert Jr was an innocent victim who came home to discover what Djerf had done to his family. The killer wrote: "No part of what I did to his family, or why, was ever his fault."

Arizona, which currently has 108 prisoners on death row, last used the death penalty in mid-March when it executed Aaron Brian Gunches in the 2002 killing of Ted Price.

The state also carried out three executions in 2022 following a nearly eight-year hiatus brought on by criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining drugs for execution. In the 2014 execution, Joseph Wood was injected with 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours, leading him to snort repeatedly and gasp hundreds of times before he died.