Arizona court upholds convictions, sentences of slain inmate

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the convictions and sentences of a death row inmate who himself was killed in his prison cell last month. Criminal prosecutions normally stop upon a defendant’s death, but the state high court said it issued its decision on an appeal for Kenneth Wayne Thompson II after his death because resolving legal issues in his case would help in others in the future. Thompson was found dead at the Eyman prison complex in Florence last month. He was convicted in 2019 of using a hatchet and a knife to kill his sister-in-law, Penelope Edwards, and her boyfriend, Troy Dunn, in Yavapai County.