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Richard Djerf and the Crucifixion of Christ in Arizona

Richard Djerf and the Crucifixion of Christ in Arizona

Last updated on: September 23, 2025 at 7:01 am by Jeff Hood

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Richard Djerf and the Crucifixion of Christ in Arizona 2025-09-23T07:01:53-06:00 Jeff Hood

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Richard Djerf

Richard Djerf / Arizona Department of Corrections

On October 17, 2025, the state of Arizona will strap Richard Kenneth Djerf to a gurney and carry out an execution on death row. Arizona officials will call it justice. They will say the death penalty is closure for the 1993 Luna family murders. But it will not be justice. It will be another crucifixion. It will be another execution of Christ.

I’ve walked with the condemned. I’ve been there when the straps cut into their flesh. I’ve been there when the poison burned through their veins. I’ve watched the light leave their eyes. I’ve felt Christ leave with them. I know what crucifixion looks like. I’ve watched it. On October 17, the crucifixion will happen all over again. This time in the body of Richard Djerf, a man who unleashed terrible violence on the Luna family in 1993.

The 1993 Luna Family Murders and the Original Sin of Richard Djerf

Djerf didn’t just kill. He staged a grotesque parody of life. He carried artificial flowers into the Luna home…a hideous gift that hid death. With cold calculation he slaughtered the entire family…Patricia, Albert Sr., Rochelle and five-year-old Damien. Four images of God erased in one night.

The crime was monstrous. We cannot minimize it. The Lunas’ blood still cries out from the ground. Their absence remains a wound that has never healed. Their loss matters. Their suffering matters. And yet…this is the scandal of the Gospel. Richard Djerf is also made in the image of God. That is what grace demands. Not cheap sentimental Christianity. Not the soft theology of comfort. The raw dangerous love of Jesus that dares to find God even in the very worst among us.

Richard Djerf’s Thirty Years in the Tomb on Arizona’s Death Row

For thirty years, Djerf has sat in a concrete tomb on death row. Thirty years of waiting for the state to finish what he started. In 1995, he pled guilty, took responsibility and accepted a sentence of death. The system calls it justice. I call it torture…a slow-motion execution stretched across three decades.

By 2021, the courts had washed their hands. The appeals dried up. But the machinery of death kept grinding forward one gear after another.

Richard Djerf, Attorney General Kris Mayes and the Resurrection of Violence

In May 2025, Attorney General Kris Mayes filed the motion for an execution warrant. She used the familiar words prosecutors always use…“victims deserve justice.” But let’s be honest. This is not justice. It is vengeance dressed in robes and carried out with a syringe.

We keep telling ourselves the lie that killing a killer honors the dead. That somehow Patricia, Albert, Rochelle and Damien will rise when Djerf falls. That is not resurrection. That is a lie we sanctify. That is delusion.

When Arizona kills Richard Djerf they will not be closing wounds. They will be ripping them open wider and deeper.

Richard Djerf’s Final Gospel and Last Statement Before Execution

Earlier today, Djerf released a handwritten statement. He admitted remorse. He refused to beg for clemency. He wrote…“If I can’t find reason to spare my life what reason would anyone else have?” He also wrote…“I hope my death brings some measure of peace.”

That first line is devastating. It is not arrogance. It is not manipulation. It is the resignation of a man who knows the weight of his crimes. But it is also more than that. It is a mirror turned toward us. If Richard Djerf cannot find a reason to live…maybe it’s because the state has never offered him one…maybe it’s because the courts have never offered him one…maybe it’s because the church has never offered him one.

“If I can’t find reason to spare my life what reason would anyone else have?” That question cuts like a blade. It’s not just about Richard. It’s about us. We have failed to embody the Gospel in such a way that even the condemned can believe they are redeemable. We have left him in the dark so long that he cannot see the light. We have let the logic of death replace the promise of resurrection.

This is the scandal of grace. God offers redemption even when we cannot see it. Christ sees worth when we declare worthlessness. The Spirit breathes life when we demand death. If Richard cannot find reason to live…it is because we have abandoned him to the grave. His despair is not proof of his unworthiness. It is proof of our refusal to believe in the God who makes all things new.

Repentance is real. Transformation is possible. But America does not want redemption. The state does not want it. The courts do not want it. And far too often the church does not want it. We want blood.

The Theology of State Murder and the Death Penalty

Christ said it plainly in Matthew 25…“Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” And who is more “least” than the condemned strapped to a gurney and pumped full of poison?

The death penalty is heresy. It denies redemption. It spits on forgiveness. It bows before vengeance. It dares to claim there are sins God cannot forgive, people God cannot redeem.

When the chemicals burn through Djerf’s veins…Arizona will not be preaching the Gospel of Christ. Arizona will be preaching Pilate’s gospel. Rome’s gospel. The gospel of empire…egomania, torture and death.

The Crucifixion of Christ in Modern Executions

I will not be able to make it to Arizona. But I will be praying. For Richard. For the Luna family. For the guards. For the technicians who push the poison. For the witnesses forced to watch. Because this system crucifies us all.

When Djerf dies…the blood will be on every one of our hands.

A Different Way Beyond the Death Penalty in Arizona

It doesn’t have to be this way. We could choose life without parole. We could let Djerf live out his days in prison…carrying his guilt…carrying his remorse…continuing to be transformed. We could honor the Lunas by preventing future violence…not multiplying it. We could put our resources into mental health…into our communities…into life.

We could choose grace. We could choose resurrection. But we will not. Because we are addicted. We believe state murder is holy.

The Resurrection We Reject and America’s Refusal of Redemption

The tragedy is not only the four lives stolen in 1993 or even the one about to be taken in 2025. The deeper tragedy is our refusal to believe in redemption at all.

Richard Djerf could continue being a witness to transformation, a counselor, a living testimony to the scandal of grace. But Arizona will not allow it. Arizona demands blood. Arizona insists on killing redemption itself.

And the church…which should be the loudest voice against execution…too often stands silent…or worse yet…cheers for the straps and the syringe. The crucifixion goes on with the blessing of the very people who claim to follow the crucified one.

And when it happens Christ will weep. Again.

*If you would like to support the Execution Intervention Project (the organization that financially supports Dr. Hood’s work), click here.

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About The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a theologian, writer and activist who has spent years ministering to people on death row. As a spiritual advisor and witness to executions, he speaks out against state violence and calls for a society rooted in justice, mercy and the sacredness of life. You can read more about the author here.

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