State v. Pete J. Vanwinkle, 230 Ariz. 387

VanWinkle was sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of Robert Cotton in 2009; trial occurred after a lengthy pretrial process in Maricopa County.
Video surveillance showed VanWinkle attacking Cotton in a jail cell for about 20 minutes, including periods of rest, with the victim's death occurring during the assault.
VanWinkle was incarcerated and transferred to Cotton’s unit prior to the murder; his conduct and statements before and after the killing were introduced at trial.
The State presented aggravating circumstances (in-custody murder, prior serious-conviction, especially heinous or depraved) and rebuttal mitigation evidence focusing on prison life and self-defense arguments.
The defense sought continuances to prepare mitigating evidence; the trial court denied these requests for lack of specificity and potential prejudice, and the jury sentenced VanWinkle to death after considering aggravation and mitigation.
On appeal, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the continuance denials were an abuse of discretion	VanWinkle	State	No abuse; lack of Rule 8.5 specificity precluded grant.
Whether there was sufficient evidence of premeditation	VanWinkle	State	Sufficient evidence; video and pattern of conduct supported premeditation.
Admissibility of other acts evidence (Rule 404(b))	VanWinkle	State	Admissible to rebut self-defense; not unduly prejudicial with limiting instruction absent.
Whether the (F)(6) aggravator instruction was fundamental error	VanWinkle	State	Not fundamental error; admission of continued violence after victim died established aggravation.
Rebuttal to mitigation evidence about prison environment	VanWinkle	State	Proper rebuttal evidence; did not violate due process or mitigation weighing.

State v. Chappell, 225 Ariz. 229 (2010) (abuse of discretion standard for death penalty review; reasonable evidence supports result)
State v. Bocharski, 218 Ariz. 476 (2008) (gratuitous violence defined; relevance to aggravating factors)
State v. Lee, 189 Ariz. 590 (1997) (limits on 404(b) evidence and need for limiting instruction)
State v. Pandeli, 215 Ariz. 514 (2007) (rebuttal evidence allowed to countermitigation; pattern of violence showed lack of mental illness mitigation)
State v. Gulbrandson, 184 Ariz. 46 (1995) (limits and structure of mitigation and sentencing process)