Murder of Dale Harrell

Dale Harrell (born December 18, 1974) died on February 9, 2009, of injuries sustained a month earlier when he was struck several times in the head with a hammer while sleeping in the Gilbert, Arizona home he shared with his wife, Marissa-Suzanne "Reese" DeVault (born November 6, 1977), in Maricopa County. DeVault was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She is held at the Perryville facility of the Arizona Department of Corrections.

On the night of the January 14, 2009 attack, DeVault told police that an unknown intruder had broken into the home and beaten Harrell. She was arrested that night on aggravated assault charges after officers noted reddened marks on her neck and found a blood-covered hammer at the scene, and was later released on bail. In early February 2009 she was indicted for attempted murder and released on bond. After Harrell died of his wounds on February 9, 2009, a grand jury indicted DeVault for first-degree murder. Early the next morning, DeVault herself was assaulted by an unknown attacker while jogging, suffering a broken jaw and ankle. Police investigated a man who lived with her in connection with the assault, but forensic evidence ruled him out and officers found no evidence linking him to Harrell's killing. Confronted with that finding, DeVault admitted she had beaten her husband with the hammer, describing it as self-defense against years of physical and sexual abuse that she detailed in a 300-page statement to Gilbert police.

Harrell's parents later filed a civil suit against DeVault after she refused to release his cremated remains to them. Police interviewing friends of the couple found no evidence corroborating DeVault's abuse allegations. Investigators separately found that DeVault had lied about receiving a large inheritance and about an undisclosed relationship with an older man, from whom she had borrowed more than US$300,000.

DeVault's trial, originally set for 2011, was postponed and began January 22, 2014. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, while the defense argued DeVault suffered from battered woman syndrome and post-traumatic stress rooted in a childhood marked by parental abuse. A defense-retained clinical psychologist testified that DeVault's actions were consistent with a history of childhood abuse, and one of DeVault's children testified to having witnessed Harrell abuse her mother. Prosecutors countered with a psychologist who diagnosed DeVault with antisocial personality disorder, questioned why DeVault had given custody of her children to relatives she had accused of abuse, and noted that DeVault had initially blamed an intruder before confessing. Prosecutors argued DeVault's actual motive was collecting a combined US$1,250,000 from two life insurance policies on Harrell to repay money she owed.

On April 8, 2014, DeVault was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder; the jury found the killing had involved excessive cruelty, making her eligible for the death penalty. She apologized to the court and to Harrell's parents. Following a penalty phase that began April 15 and deliberations that began April 22, the jury declined to impose a death sentence and recommended life in prison instead. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said afterward that jurors had felt a life sentence was appropriate. On June 6, 2014, a judge formally sentenced DeVault to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The trial drew national and international press coverage, including comparisons to another highly publicized Arizona murder trial held in the same courthouse the previous year.