Arizona will execute its first death row inmate in over two years on Wednesday.
Aaron Brian Gunches pleaded guilty to murder more than 17 years ago. He was convicted in 2007 in the shooting death of Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband, near Mesa. He also shot a state trooper when he was pulled over near the California border in 2003.
Gunches, who has said his death sentence was “long overdue,” passed up a chance to ask for reprieve from the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency last week.
The Arizona Supreme Court had issued a death warrant for Gunches nearly two years ago, but the sentence wasn’t carried out. At the time, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes agreed not to pursue executions during a review of the state’s death penalty protocol.
That review ended in November, when Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs dismissed the retired federal magistrate judge she had appointed to examine the state’s execution procedures.
The judge, David Duncan, concluded it was impossible to humanely kill those on death row by lethal injection – the only method currently authorized under the Arizona Constitution. Critics called on Hobbs to allow Duncan to complete his review, while Hobbs defended her decision to cut short his work.
Duncan recently told The Washington Post he has “no reason to believe” Arizona is ready to restart executions without repeating past mistakes that prompted Hobbs to order the review in the first place.
Arizona, which has more than 112 prisoners on death row, last carried out three executions in 2022 following an eight-year hiatus brought on by criticism that a 2014 execution was botched. The state for years also faced difficulty obtaining the drugs necessary for executions.
In one of three 2022 executions, the state was criticized for taking too long to insert an IV for lethal injection into a condemned prisoner.
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