State v. Tostado

LOCKWOOD, Justice:

Rafael Tostado, the defendant in this case, was charged with two counts of murder in violation of A.R.S. §§ 13 — 451, 13-452, and 13-453. He was subsequently tried and convicted of two counts of second degree murder. He was sentenced to serve from eighteen to thirty years on each count with the sentences to run concurrently.

The pertinent facts are as follows. The defendant was a Mexican national who was illegally working in the United States as a ranchhand near Florence. While in Florence he met and began dating Jean Marshall, the daughter of his foreman. He eventually moved…