In Arizona, a jury has handed down a death sentence to a serial killer responsible for a series of murders in 2017.

The convicted individual, 43-year-old Cleophus Cooksey Jr., was found guilty in September of murdering eight individuals throughout the Phoenix area over a span of three weeks nearly ten years ago.

The death sentence, issued on December 18, pertains to six of Cooksey’s murder convictions. However, the jury was unable to agree on the sentencing for the other two murders, according to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel H. Mitchell, who detailed the verdict in a press release.

In addition to the death penalty, Cooksey received a sentence of over nine years in prison for additional charges that were not capital offenses.

“For those questioning the necessity of the death penalty, this case provides a clear example,” remarked Mitchell, labeling Cooksey as a “serial killer” in her statement released on Thursday. “It takes an extraordinary degree of malevolence to target the vulnerable and unjustly extinguish the lives of eight innocent people.”

Altogether, Cooksey was convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping and one count of attempt to commit sexual assault. 

In their coverage, the Associated Press noted they left phone and email messages for defense attorney Robert Reinhardt.

Cooksey shot and killed his first victims, Parker Smith and Andrew Remillard, on Nov. 27, 2017, setting off a nearly month-long murder spree that also claimed the lives of Salim Richards, Latorrie Beckford, Kristopher Cameron and Maria Villanueva. 

Then, on Dec. 17, Cooksey murdered his mother, Rene Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn—the two murders that his jury couldn’t unanimously agree on a punishment for at trial.  

He was arrested shortly after, with Cooksey wearing a gold necklace stolen from Richards while being taken into custody, investigators said. (Villanueva’s car keys were also found in his apartment.) 

Per CBS News and AP, authorities never offered a motive, and Cooksey has maintained his innocence. 

But at trial, prosecutors outlined how investigators linked Cooksey to the murders through various evidence tying the different crime scenes together, including DNA, firearms and casings.

“Death is the only just punishment for him,” Mitchell added in the Dec. 18 press release, “and we will do everything in our power to see it carried through.”