Death sentence upheld in death of Arizona girl locked in box

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction and death sentence of a woman in the 2011 suffocation of her 10-year-old cousin who was locked in a plastic storage box as punishment and left to die. The justices rejected Sammantha Allen’s claims that prosecutors had improperly suggested she was the person who killed Ame Deal and that Allen’s husband was solely responsible for punishing the child. Ame was ordered to get into the box because she had stolen an ice pop. Allen and her husband, John Allen, fell asleep and discovered the next morning that the child had died. Two years ago, the Supreme Court upheld John Allen’s convictions and death sentence.