State v. Jimenez

OPINION

CORCORAN, Justice.

Appellant Jesus Rodriguez Jimenez (defendant) appeals from his conviction of first degree murder after a jury trial. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article 6, § 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. §§ 13-4031 and -4033. For the following reasons, we affirm defendant’s conviction for first degree murder, but reduce the death sentence to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 35 years.

Factual and Procedural Background

At 9:00 p.m. on November 30, 1986, police found the body of a 5-year-old girl wrapped in plastic in the trunk of a disabled car…