PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A member of an Arizona prison gang will spend an additional four decades behind bars for ordering a man’s execution while he was already incarcerated for other crimes.
Jonathan V. Peterson, 41, was recently sentenced in connection to a murder that happened more than seven years ago as part of an investigation into a prison gang responsible for numerous crimes around the Valley. The sentencing was announced Wednesday morning by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
In October 2017, Peterson was already serving a 24-year sentence for gang-related crimes when prosecutors say he used a smuggled cell phone to plan the “execution-style murder” of a law enforcement informant named Juan Raygoza. The crime was carried out by Peterson’s accomplices outside the prison, who lured Raygoza to a location where he was murdered.
“This defendant murdered an individual for cooperating with law enforcement—an act that was meant to intimidate and silence others,” Mitchell said. “No matter how clever criminals believe they are, this conviction sends a clear message—we will track them down and hold them accountable, no matter where they are.”…