An Arizona death row inmate, Aaron Brian Gunches, has asked the state’s highest court to schedule his execution sooner than the planned date. Gunches, who was convicted of murder in 2002, believes that his death sentence has been delayed for too long, and he wants justice for the victim’s family. He is requesting that his execution take place in mid-February, but this is a change from previous filings.
Gunches had made a similar request in November 2022, asking the court to issue a death warrant for him. He said that he wanted his sentence carried out to provide closure to the family of Ted Price, whom he killed. However, he withdrew that request in January 2023 after expressing concerns about how recent executions had been handled. He said the executions seemed to be “torture” due to how the state carried them out.
In his most recent request, Gunches argued that the state is delaying his execution, causing unnecessary delays in carrying out his sentence. He stated that the process was dragging on and needed to be expedited. He is representing himself in this case, despite not being a lawyer.
The Arizona Attorney General’s office, however, is asking for more time to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to meet the requirements for an execution. This includes making sure that the lethal injection drugs are tested and available for use. Arizona’s procedures for executing prisoners had been under review after problems with past executions.
Gunches had originally been scheduled for execution in April 2023, but that plan was halted. Governor Katie Hobbs’ office stated that the state wasn’t ready to carry out executions because they didn’t have enough trained staff to do so properly. Governor Hobbs had promised that executions would not take place until the state could be confident it was following the law.
Gunches was convicted for the 2002 shooting death of Ted Price, who was his girlfriend’s ex-husband. Arizona has 111 prisoners on death row, and the last executions took place in 2022 after an almost eight-year pause. This delay was due to concerns about a botched execution in 2014 and difficulties in obtaining the drugs needed for lethal injections.
