<p>The Arizona Department of Corrections said that Viva Leroy Nash died late behind bars on Friday at the state prison in Florence, but couldn't confirm whether the death row inmate passed away in his cell or in the prison's medical facility.<br /><br />Nash was born in 1915 and had a criminal record dating back to the 1930s, when he committed an armed robbery; he was deaf, mostly blind, crippled, mentally ill and had dementia, the US media quoted his lawyer Thomas Phalen as saying.<br /><br />Nash spent 25 years in prison for shooting a Connecticut police officer in 1947, and was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man in Salt Lake City in 1977. But he escaped in October 1982 and fatally shot a salesman, for which he was sentenced to death in 1983.<br /><br />However, he managed to stave off his execution with a series of appeals. In fact, at the time of his death, state prosecutors were appealing a federal ruling that he might not be mentally competent to the US Supreme Court.<br /><br />"He was born in 1915 and he was sent to prison in 1930. Think about it -- he had 15 years of life in southern Utah, at a time when Utah and Arizona was the wild, wild West -- and he went to prison in 1930, and he remained in prison for the next 80 years, more or less," Phalen said.</p>
<p>The Arizona Department of Corrections said that Viva Leroy Nash died late behind bars on Friday at the state prison in Florence, but couldn't confirm whether the death row inmate passed away in his cell or in the prison's medical facility.<br /><br />Nash was born in 1915 and had a criminal record dating back to the 1930s, when he committed an armed robbery; he was deaf, mostly blind, crippled, mentally ill and had dementia, the US media quoted his lawyer Thomas Phalen as saying.<br /><br />Nash spent 25 years in prison for shooting a Connecticut police officer in 1947, and was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man in Salt Lake City in 1977. But he escaped in October 1982 and fatally shot a salesman, for which he was sentenced to death in 1983.<br /><br />However, he managed to stave off his execution with a series of appeals. In fact, at the time of his death, state prosecutors were appealing a federal ruling that he might not be mentally competent to the US Supreme Court.<br /><br />"He was born in 1915 and he was sent to prison in 1930. Think about it -- he had 15 years of life in southern Utah, at a time when Utah and Arizona was the wild, wild West -- and he went to prison in 1930, and he remained in prison for the next 80 years, more or less," Phalen said.</p>