Arizona prosecutors seek death penalty after a 2-year pause in executions

PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors in Arizona are seeking to execute a prisoner in what would mark the state’s first use of the death penalty after a two-year pause. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office asked the state Supreme Court on Friday to issue a warrant for the execution of Aaron Brian Gunches, who pleaded guilty to murder in 2007.

The court had issued a death warrant for Gunches nearly two years ago, but the sentence wasn’t carried out because the state’s Democratic attorney general agreed not to pursue executions during a review of the state’s death penalty protocol.

The review ended in November when Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs dismissed the retired federal magistrate she had appointed to examine execution procedures.

In Friday’s filing, prosecutors said the state is prepared to carry out the execution and that Gunches has waived a state post-conviction review of his case and failed to start a federal constitutional review.

Gunches, who isn’t a lawyer but is representing himself, had asked the court last week to skip legal formalities and schedule his execution earlier than authorities had planned, saying his death sentence was “long overdue.” The state Supreme Court later rejected his request.

The Associated Press left a phone message on Friday with Emily Skinner, a death penalty lawyer who is serving as Gunches’ advisory counsel.

Gunches pleaded guilty to a murder charge in the 2002 shooting death of Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband, near the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.

Arizona, which has 111 prisoners on death row, last carried out three executions in 2022 following a nearly eight-year hiatus brought on by criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining drugs for execution.

Since then, the state has been criticized for taking too long to insert an IV for lethal injection into a condemned prisoner in 2022.