A Sun City landlord previously convicted of murdering his 70-year-old tenant was granted a new trial after a detective involved in the investigation was found to have violated multiple policies in an unrelated matter.
George Crater, now 64, flew to Arizona from his home in Washington to visit the rental property his family owned in Sun City on Oct. 27, 2024, and he confronted tenant Thomas Galatola over unpaid rent, according to court documents.
Galatola was left beaten, bleeding, and suffering from a brain bleed when he was taken to the hospital. He died 10 days later, on Nov. 6, 2024, from injuries related to the bleeding in his brain.
A jury later convicted Crater of felony murder, kidnapping, burglary and aggravated assault.
In Arizona, felony
murder means someone can be convicted of murder if a death happens during a serious crime like kidnapping or burglary, even if they didn’t intend to kill the person.
Investigation of MCSO detective’s traffic violations upends jury verdict
Eight days before his sentencing, prosecutors disclosed a Brady report for Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detective Juan Ruiz. If a law enforcement officer has a documented history of misconduct or dishonesty, it must be disclosed by prosecutors in what is called a Brady report.
The report outlined a series of policy violations from a Nov. 18, 2020, incident in which Ruiz tried to avoid traffic violations by equipping his personal vehicle with emergency lights and activated them while driving alone in an HOV lane.
MCSO’s internal investigation into the incident wasn’t completed until February 27, 2026, and the Professional Standards Bureau ultimately sustained four misconduct allegations on April 7 before forwarding its findings to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors disclosed those findings to Crater’s attorney, Adam Feldman, on May 21 — nearly one month after a jury convicted him.
Two days before Crater’s May 29 sentencing, Feldman filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case with prejudice, meaning prosecutors wouldn’t be able to refile the charges against his client.
Prosecutors were responsible for obtaining and disclosing evidence that could discredit a witness — including those in law enforcement — Feldman argued while citing a disciplinary report against Ruiz.
“The report itself concluded Ruiz likely activated emergency lights ‘to avoid the consequences of traffic violations,’” Feldman wrote. “Such conduct bears directly on credibility, integrity, and abuse of police authority. Moreover, the report acknowledged unresolved ‘truthfulness concerns.’”
Maricopa County prosecutor Louis Giaquinto downplayed Ruiz’s role in the investigation, describing it as being “superficial,” and asserted that most of Ruiz’s testimony was either corroborated by others or immaterial.
“Officer Ruiz's misconduct consisted of traffic violations, unauthorized vehicle equipment, and a failure to report police contact,” Giaquinto wrote. “This conduct clearly does not reflect dishonesty, fabrication, or deceit relevant to his credibility in this homicide investigation. It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine that this misconduct would have changed the result of the trial.”
Giaquinto asked the court to either dismiss Feldman’s motion or grant a new trial.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Monica Edelstein found that a Brady violation had occurred and Ruiz was obligated to disclose the internal investigation as a member of the prosecution team even if he wasn’t aware of its findings at the time, according to an Oct. 5 ruling.
But Edelstein didn’t find that prosecutors had acted in bad faith or engaged in prosecutorial misconduct and dismissed the case without prejudice, leaving prosecutors the option to refile charges.
Crater was back in front of a Maricopa County Superior Court commissioner for the refiled charges two days later.
Landlord back in jail on $1 million cash-only bond
Crater wore a shirt that said “I may be wrong, but I highly doubt it” on the front as he used a walker to approach the lectern at his initial appearance hearing held shortly after 8 p.m. on Oct. 7.
Feldman and Giaquinto appeared remotely for the initial appearance where the latter asked that Crater be held on a $2 million cash-only bond.
Giaquinto said there was substantial evidence tying Crater to Galatola’s death and argued Crater was an even greater flight risk by having been convicted before Edelstein set the jury’s guilty verdict aside.
Crater swayed side-to-side while gripping his walker as Giaquinto described him as a flight risk having been previously convicted on charges that would likely have sent him to prison for the rest of his life.
“As ludicrous as this may sound, I’m asking for release to pretrial services,” Feldman said.
Feldman argued that Edelstein was a more appropriate party to determine Crater’s release conditions.
“I don’t want to speak on what she would be doing for release conditions,” Feldman said. “But I cannot imagine that her intention was to have Mr. Crater double his time in jail before he actually gets to trial with an appropriate record and an appropriate playing field.”
Feldman added that “horrid” conditions in the Maricopa County jail and medical facility within the jail were a detriment to his client’s health.
“The jail has effectively rendered Mr. Crater disabled,” Feldman said. “He’s lost 180 pounds. He went in with full mobility, and now he has to use the assistance of a walker. He was brought in and out of trial in a wheelchair. He lacks mobility because of the conditions in the jail.”
Feldman asserted that Crater wasn’t a flight risk and challenged the state’s suggestion that what happened inside the Sun City home had anything to do with Galatola’s death.
“I would submit pretrial services with ankle monitoring is more than appropriate for someone of his age with his mobility with no criminal history to speak of,” Feldman said.
Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner John Aragon didn’t disagree that Edelstein was in a better position to determine an appropriate resolution to Crater’s release conditions but felt it was appropriate to hold Crater in jail on a $1 million cash-only bond until Edelstein decided otherwise at a future court hearing.
Republic reporter Miguel Torres contributed to this article.
Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at perry.vandell@arizonarepublic.com or 480-341-9433.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sun City landlord back in jail after judge sets aside murder conviction
