Federal court grants condemned Arizona man's wish: execution

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court granted the request Thursday of a condemned Arizona murderer who asked to end his appeals and be executed, even though a dissenting judge said there were grounds to reverse the death sentence.

Ruling 14-1, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Robert Charles Comer could end a long odyssey of appeals and be executed by lethal injection for the 1987 murder of an Apache Lake camper during a crime spree in which he also raped a woman after tying up her boyfriend.

In September, a panel of the San Francisco appellate court ruled 2-1 that Comer was competent to waive his appeals, but the majority held that the court should review the claims lower courts rejected.

In reviewing the appellate claims Comer wanted to void, the panel upheld his conviction, but found his sentencing violated his constitutional rights because he was hauled before the judge in a wheelchair "nearly naked, bleeding, shackled, and exhausted."

The court agreed to rehear the case with the larger panel that found any constitutional problems with the case were moot because Comer chose to end his appeals.

Comer was convicted in 1988 of first-degree murder and armed robbery for the shooting death of Larry Pritchard. He was also convicted in a Maricopa County court of three counts of sexual assault, armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault in connection to the attacks on another camper and her boyfriend.

Comer's girlfriend, Juneva Willis, 47, was with him at the time of the crimes and was allowed to plead guilty to kidnapping in exchange for testifying against Comer. She served nearly six years in prison before her release in March 1994.