Death row inmate dead from coronavirus
This undated photo provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections shows Alfonso Raymond Salazar. (Arizona Department of Corrections via AP)
PHOENIX - A death row inmate became the third prisoner in Arizona prisons to die from the coronavirus.
A federal public defender whose office represented Alfonso Raymond Salazar says the inmate died Thursday at a hospital from complications of COVID-19.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office is examining Salazar’s death and hasn’t yet determined a cause of death. The Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry didn’t immediately return a call Thursday evening seeking comment.
Salazar was sentenced to die in the 1986 killing of 83-year-old Sara Kaplan in Pima County.
Before being taken to the hospital on April 21, Salazar was housed at the Florence prison, It accounts for 35 of the 50 cases of the coronavirus cases in state prisons.
Salazar was the first Arizona death row inmate to die from the virus, and federal public defender Dale Baich said seven other death row prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. But it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death for some people, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.