Arizona is set to resume executions of inmates on death row as soon as this coming year.
The decision from Attorney General Kris Mayes comes after Gov. Katie Hobbs dismissed the person she hired to draft a report on the process in the state.
Hobbs said she no longer had confidence in him as he made recommendations that were against state law.
Mayes says a separate review from the Arizona Department of Corrections informed her decision.
"Given the review that has now been completed by the Department of Corrections, I feel confident that the state is prepared to conduct an execution at this point,” she said.
Mayes says she’ll seek an execution warrant for death-row inmate Aaron Gunches in the next two weeks.
Gunches had pleaded guilty to first degree murder and kidnapping in the 2002 death of Ted Price, his girlfriend's ex husband.
He waived his right to post-conviction review and in November 2022 filed a motion on his own behalf seeking an execution warrant. But Gunches withdrew that request in January 2023 after Hobbs took office.
