Opinion ID: 1036031
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Karen

Text: ¶49 Sufficient evidence supports a finding that Benson murdered Karen in an especially heinous or depraved manner by inflicting gratuitous violence. As previously explained, gratuitous violence can be found if the defendant “use[d] violence beyond that necessary to kill,” and “continued to inflict violence after he knew or should have known that a fatal action had occurred.” Bocharski II, 218 Ariz. at 494 ¶¶ 85, 87, 189 P.3d at 421 (emphasis omitted). Benson does not dispute that he committed more violence than necessary to kill Karen. Rather, he argues that insufficient evidence exists that he knew or should have known that Karen was dead when he inflicted that violence. But the State only had to demonstrate that Benson knew or should have known that a fatal action had occurred when he continued to inflict violence – not that Karen had died. See Wallace IV, 229 Ariz. at 160 ¶ 21, 272 P.3d at 1051 (“[T]he inquiry is not whether the victim was dead before further injury was inflicted, but rather whether more injury was inflicted than necessary to kill.”). ¶50 Ample evidence supports the jury’s finding that Benson inflicted gratuitous violence on Karen after he knew or should have known he had inflicted fatal action. According to Benson, after realizing that Karen was dead because her “body was getting cold,” he dragged her to the backseat of his car, drove somewhere, stopped, pushed her out of the car, and then ran over her. He later admitted to police that he might have run over Karen but “didn’t think anything else would hurt her.” ¶51 Because the (F)(6) aggravator is supported by a finding that Benson inflicted gratuitous violence on Karen, thereby murdering her in an especially heinous or depraved manner, we need not decide whether the evidence sufficiently supports the jury’s finding that the murder was especially cruel.