PHOENIX, AZ (March 1, 2012) - Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roger Brodman has sentenced Nathan Wayne King (D.O.B. 2/18/80) to serve two concurrent thirteen-year prison terms for the 2008 murders of Shaun T. Naylor and Gregory S. Mitchell. King agreed to plead no contest to two counts of second degree murder in exchange for the sentence. He will not be eligible for early release.

“While no amount of prison time can bring back the two lives that were lost in this senseless crime, this sentence represents a just outcome based on the available evidence and the likely result had this case proceeded to trial,” said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.

At around 10:30pm on April 6, 2008, a neighbor witnessed a silver truck pull up in front of a residence occupied by Gregory Mitchell, a Caucasian male. The driver was seen walking up to the door and several gunshots were heard, after which the driver was seen getting back into the truck and driving away. Phoenix Police officers arrived on the scene approximately ten minutes later and found Shaun Naylor, an African American male, with a gunshot wound the head lying in the entry way of the home. Mitchell was found lying on the outside patio area with several gunshot wounds to his body. None of the witnesses actually saw the shooting nor could they identify the shooter. No forensic evidence was discovered at the scene.

During the investigation, several individuals provided information that identified Nathan King as a suspect. One informant indicated that about a week after the murder, while purchasing drugs from King’s girlfriend at her apartment, he overheard King telling someone else that he “smoked” Naylor in order to make an example of him for owing him money. Another informant who had met King a couple of times told investigators that King related a similar story to him. This informant stated that King described the two victims as black males. In January 2010, investigators interviewed King’s cousin, Jeremy King, who indicated that the defendant told him he had committed “double homicide.”

King never confessed to the murders. He claimed not to remember the events of the night of the crime due to drug use at the time and a subsequent head injury suffered in a motorcycle accident.

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