Arizona death row inmate wants to be executed sooner than state plans

A Death row inmate in Arizona has asked the state Supreme Court to skip legal formalities and schedule his execution sooner than officials planned.

Aaron Brian Gunches, 53, had previously pushed for the state to carry out his execution for his conviction for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband, to which he had pleaded guilty. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection.

Grunches’ execution would be the first use of the death penalty in Arizona since a two-year pause to review execution procedures.

In a handwritten brief to the court this week, Gunches, who is not a lawyer but represents himself, urged the state superior court Schedule its execution for mid-February.

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Aaron Brian Gunches was convicted of murder for the 2002 killing of Ted Price in Maricopa County, Arizona. (Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry via AP)

He said his death sentence was “long overdue” and that the state was prolonging the process by asking the court for a schedule of pre-execution legal briefings.

The office of Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, who is seeking Gunches’ execution, said a schedule of briefings should be established to ensure corrections officials comply with execution requirements, including testing for pentobarbital that will be used for his injection. lethal.

Two years ago, Gunches asked the state Supreme Court to issue his execution order on the grounds that justice could be served and that the victim’s family could have closure.

The Alabama lethal injection chamber is shown on October 7, 2002 at the Holman Correctional Center in Atmore, Alabama. (AP)

Gunches was scheduled to be executed in April 2023 before Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office said the state was not prepared to carry out the death penalty because it did not have personnel with the expertise to carry out executions.

Hobbs had promised not to carry out any death sentences until he was confident that the State could do so without violating any laws. Hobbs had ordered a review that effectively ended in November when he removed the retired federal judge he had appointed to lead the review.

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FILE: The gurney in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

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Arizona has 111 prisoners on death row, but they were executed for the last time death sentences in 2022, when three inmates were executed, after a nearly eight-year hiatus sparked by criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and difficulties obtaining lethal injection drugs.

Since then, the state has faced criticism for taking too long to insert an intravenous line for lethal injection in a death row inmate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.