San Quentin

USA - California. Pedro Arias is the 12th death row prisoner to die of Covid-19

August 9, 2020:

San Quentin death-row inmate Pedro Arias dies in hospital----Coroner will determine cause of death, COVID-19 status. A 58-year-old man convicted of murder who was also serving a life sentence without parole died Sunday of apparent COVID-19 complications, state prison officials said. In a statement Sunday evening, state prison officials said death-row inmate Pedro Arias had been receiving treatment at an outside hospital, and that a coroner will pronounce an exact cause of death for Romero, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. Arias had been on death row since March 5, 1990, nearly 2 weeks after his Sacramento County sentencing for a May 23, 1987 1st-degree murder of John Waltrip during a robbery. He had also received a life sentence without parole after convictions for kidnapping for ransom, penetration with a foreign object, attempted sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, sodomy of a child under 14, 2 counts of forcible rape, 2nd-degree robbery and enhancements for the use of a firearm. Arias is believed to be the 25th San Quentin inmate to succumb to the coronavirus since the pandemic began in March that has sickened more than a thousand prisoners. Several of them died in the Bay Area medical centers. On Sunday, a prison guard who had been battling the illness succumbed. San Quentin State Prison death row inmates who have died from COVID-19 are:

Richard Eugene Stitely, 71, died June 24;

Joseph S. Cordova, 75, died July 1;

Scott Thomas Erskine, 57, died July 3;

Manuel Machado Alvarez, 59, died July 3;

Dewayne Micheal Carey, 59, died July 4;

David John Reed, 60, died July 7;

Jeffrey J. Hawkins, 64, died July 15;

Troy A. Ashmus, 58, died July 20;

John M. Beames, 67, died July 21;

Johnny Avila Jr., 62, died July 26;

Orlando G. Romero, 48, died Aug. 2;

Pedro Arias, 58, died Aug. 9.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/09/san-quentin-death-row-convict-arias-dies-in-hospital/

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/California-halted-executions-in-2019-Now-15470648.php