Arizona Court Rejects Death Penalty for Illegal Alien Accused of Murdering Grant Ronnebeck

An Arizona court made official this week that the illegal alien charged with murdering 21-year-old Grant Ronnebeck will not face the death penalty because of his alleged “intellectual disability.”

Last month, Judge Michael Kemp ruled that 34-year-old illegal alien Apolinar Altamirano was not eligible for the death penalty because he had a fifth-grade education and was unable to obtain special education because he grew up in rural Mexico. Last year, Kemp ruled that prosecutors in the case would not be allowed to mention that Altamirano was an illegal alien who had been living in the U.S. for more than 20 years.

This week, the Arizona Court of Appeals reinforced Kemp’s decision, telling prosecutors that they would not be allowed to seek the death penalty against Altamirano.

On January 22, 2015, Altamirano entered a QuickTrip convenience store in Mesa, Arizona, where Ronnebeck worked as a store clerk, and allegedly shot the young man to death after demanding a pack of cigarettes, Breitbart News reported at the time.

After shooting and killing Ronnebeck, prosecutors say Altamirano stepped over the body of the young man to grab a couple more packs of cigarettes before fleeing the scene. Following the alleged murder, the illegal alien sent police on a high-speed chase and was eventually arrested and taken into custody.

At the time of the alleged murder, Altamirano — an alleged self-proclaimed member of the Sinaloa Cartel — had been out of police custody on bond despite having orders to be deported from the U.S.

Prosecutors will continue seeking a first-degree murder conviction for Altamirano.

“Our children are worth … it’s blood on [the Democrats’] hands,” Angel Dad Steve Ronnebeck said during a press conference for Angel Families in June. ” … I made a promise right after Grant died that I was going to keep fighting for Grant and keep fighting for the American people. What the American people don’t understand is that it’s going to happen to them or somebody they know … with so many people coming across our border.”

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.