The Arizona Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man in the suffocation of a 10-year-old girl he locked in a plastic box.
The justices on Tuesday rejected John Allen’s claim that jurors abused their discretion in sentencing him in the 2011 killing of Ame Deal.
Authorities said Allen ordered Ame to get into the box because she had stolen an ice pop. Allen fell asleep and discovered her death the next morning.
The state Supreme Court threw out sentences for child abuse because a judge improperly applied harsher penalties.
Allen will be re-sentenced on those counts.
An attorney for Allen has not responded to the State Supreme Court’s decision.
