Deputy Sheriff Robert Lee Wright

Robert Lee Wright

Deputy Sheriff Lee Wright succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained two weeks earlier in Chandler, Arizona, while attempting to arrest a group of criminals who were on a cross-country crime spree.

Two of the subjects, a man and a woman, had murdered Corporal Brady Paul of the Pennsylvania State Highway Patrol on December 27th, 1929. They had picked up a third subject who had recently been released from prison in Texas. The trio then abducted a Pinal County, Arizona, sheriff's deputy.

Deputy Wright and another deputy rammed the vehicle into a curb in front of the San Marcos Hotel, stopping it. Deputy Wright was then struck by a gunshot during a shootout with the subjects. The subjects then threw the abducted deputy from the car and escaped.

They were apprehended several days later by a posse of several hundred officers and citizens. The couple was extradited to Pennsylvania, where they were convicted of Corporal Paul's murder, sentenced to death, and subsequently executed on February 23rd, 1931. The third subject was convicted of Deputy Wright's murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Deputy Wright had served in law enforcement for 32 years. He was survived by his wife and brother. His brother served as the county sheriff at the time of the murder.