Jeffrey Alan Walton

Case overview

Jeffrey Alan Walton was sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of Thomas Dale Powell in Tucson, Arizona, following a robbery and kidnapping in which Walton shot Powell once in the head. Powell survived the shot, later died from exposure and pneumonia, and Walton led police to the murder site after his arrest.

Timeline

• March 2, 1986 — Walton, Sharold Ramsey, and Robert Hoover waited outside a bar in Tucson for someone to rob; after Thomas Dale Powell left the bar, the trio robbed him at gunpoint, forced him into Powell's car, drove him to a desert area west of Tucson, and Walton shot Powell in the head.
• December 2, 1986 — Trial began.
• December 16, 1986 — Trial verdict.
• January 27, 1987 — Walton was sentenced to death.
• October 2002 — Walton’s death sentence was reduced from death to life without the possibility of parole for 25 years (as described in October 2002 material).

The offence

Walton, Sharold Ramsey, and Robert Hoover waited outside a bar in Tucson for someone to rob on the night of March 2, 1986. When Thomas Dale Powell left the bar, Hoover alerted Walton that he was coming.

Walton pointed a pistol at Powell and ordered him to lie down and empty his pockets. The trio then forced Powell into Powell's car and drove out to a desert area west of Tucson. Powell was tied up, taken away, and shot in the head by Walton. The shot blinded Powell but did not kill him.

After Powell regained consciousness, he floundered in the desert for approximately a week before he died from exposure and pneumonia.

Walton and his codefendants had gone to the bar intending to find and rob someone at random, steal his car, tie him up, and leave him in the desert while they fled the State in the car. After the trio robbed Powell at gunpoint and forced him into his car, they asked Powell questions about where he lived and whether he had any more money. When the car stopped, Ramsey told Powell that he would not be hurt. Walton and Hoover forced Powell out of the car and had him lie face down near the car while Walton and others debated what to do with him. Walton eventually instructed Hoover and Ramsey to sit in the car and turn the radio up loud. Walton then took a .22 caliber derringer and marched Powell off into the desert.

After walking a short distance, Walton forced Powell to lie down, placed his foot on Powell's neck, and shot Powell once in the head. Walton later told Hoover and Ramsey that he had “never seen a man pee in his pants before.”

Investigation

A medical examiner determined that Powell did not die instantly from the gunshot. Powell had been blinded and rendered unconscious by the shot but was not immediately killed. Powell regained consciousness, floundered about in the desert, and ultimately died from dehydration, starvation, and pneumonia approximately a day before his body was found. After Walton was arrested a week later, he led police to Powell's body and the murder site.

Arrest

Walton was arrested about a week after the March 2, 1986 offence, and he led police to Powell's body.

Trial

Walton was charged with first-degree murder under Arizona’s alternate definitions of the crime, either premeditated murder or felony murder, after instructions on both premeditated and felony murder and a general verdict.

Presiding Judge: G. Thomas Meehan. Prosecutors: Ken Peasley and Kate Dawes.

Parties and proceedings

• Ramsey pled guilty to a lesser offense and testified for the state.
• Hoover was convicted and received a life sentence.

Start of Trial: December 2, 1986. Verdict: December 16, 1986.

Sentencing

Sentencing: January 27, 1987.

Aggravating circumstances

The state proved two aggravating factors:

• Pecuniary gain.
• Especially heinous/cruel/depraved.

Mitigating circumstances

Mitigating Circumstances: None sufficient to call for leniency.

At the sentencing hearing, the trial judge found that the aggravating factors were present beyond a reasonable doubt, found that mitigating factors were not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, and imposed a death sentence.

Walton’s relative youth was argued as a mitigating factor, and diminished capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct was also argued in mitigation, along with other mitigating testimony described as including impairment from substance abuse.

Appeals

Published opinions included:

• State v. Walton, 159 Ariz. 571, 769 P.2d 1017 (1989).
• Walton v. Arizona, 497 U.S. 639, 110 S. Ct. 3047, 111 L. Ed. 2d 511 (1990).

The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed Walton’s conviction and sentence. It found that the especially cruel prong involved mental anguish and uncertainty as to ultimate fate, and it found that the especially depraved prong involved the perpetrator relishing the murder and showing debasement, perversion, or indifference to suffering with pleasure. It also found the pecuniary gain circumstance present. It concluded there were no mitigating circumstances sufficiently substantial to call for leniency, and it conducted a proportionality review and determined that Walton’s death sentence was proportional to sentences imposed in similar cases.

The United States Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Arizona Supreme Court. The decision addressed the validity of the death sentence after a jury found Walton guilty of first-degree murder, including challenges relating to jury factfinding at sentencing, the burden of establishing mitigating circumstances, and the constitutionality of the especially heinous/cruel/depraved aggravating circumstance as interpreted by Arizona courts.

Outcome

Walton was sentenced to death on January 27, 1987. Later, in October 2002 material, Walton’s sentence was described as reduced from Death to Life without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

Other details

Walton’s sentencing described that the judge conducted the sentencing hearing alone pursuant to Arizona law, after the jury convicted Walton of first-degree murder following instructions on both premeditated and felony murder.

Powell was described as a young, off-duty Marine. Walton pointed a pistol at Powell, ordered him to lie down and empty his pockets, and later shot Powell once in the head with a .22 caliber derringer.

Walton’s remark to codefendants after the shooting was: “never seen a man pee in his pants before.”