Interim Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley is seeking the death penalty against at least two men involved in the shooting death of a Chandler undercover officer.
The county attorney’s office filed the request with Maricopa County Superior Court on Wednesday, requesting that Darnell Jackson, 36, and Eldridge Gittens, 34, be sentenced to death in connection with the fatal shooting of detective Carlos Ledesma inside a south Phoenix residence during a staged drug deal July 28.
Romley’s office also requested a 60-day continuance in the court proceedings so lab work in the case can be completed and submitted to the county attorney’s Capital Review Committee to determine whether it will seek the death penalty against Jerry Wayne Cockhearn, 26, a third defendant charged in the case.
All of the men have been charged with first-degree murder and other assault- and drug-related charges, and are being held in a Maricopa County jail.
