Killer of Phoenix officer gets death penalty

by Michael Kiefer - Oct. 19, 2010 10:53 AM
The Arizona Republic

A 23-year-old man who shot and killed a Phoenix police officer at a check-cashing store in 2007 was sentenced Tuesday to death.

A Maricopa County Superior Court jury imposed the death penalty against Edward James Rose, who fatally shot Officer George Cortez as the officer was trying to arrest him.

Rose pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in August, on the first day of his trial. On Sept. 13, the jury found aggravating factors to qualify him for the death penalty.

On July 27, 2007, Cortez, 23, the father of two boys, answered a 911 call from a check-cashing store in the 8200 block of West McDowell Road, where Rose and his girlfriend, Norma Lopez, were reported to have tried to cash a forged and stolen check. The incident was captured on surveillance video.

Prosecutors played moments of that video in court at Lopez's sentencing in April. She received 22 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

In the video, Rose and Lopez can be seen standing at a teller's window as Lopez fidgets nervously. At that moment in the video, Lopez walks out of the store as Cortez walks quickly up to Rose and snaps a handcuff on his left hand.

Rose then pulled a .40-caliber pistol from his waistband and shot Cortez twice in the head.

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