Arizona Gov. Hobbs says state won’t carry out new execution warrant

PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs said Friday the state will not carry out the execution warrant granted by the Arizona Supreme Court a day earlier.

“Under my administration, an execution will not occur until the people of Arizona can have confidence that the state is not violating the law in carrying out the gravest of penalties,” she said in a statement.

On Jan. 20, less than three weeks after taking office, Hobbs ordered a review of the death penalty process because of the state’s history of executions that were allegedly mishandled.

Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat like Hobbs, then pledged not to seek execution warrants until the review was completed. She also asked the Supreme Court to withdraw a request by her Republican predecessor for a warrant to execute Aaron Gunches.

In 2004, Gunches pleaded guilty to murdering Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband, two years earlier. He was sentenced to death in 2008 and again in 2013 after the Arizona Supreme Court found an error in the first sentencing proceeding.

Last November, Gunches asked the Supreme Court to issue a death warrant in his own case, saying he wanted justice to “be lawfully served and give closure to the victim’s family.” In December, then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich requested a warrant of execution.

However, Gunches withdrew his request in early January, citing three recent executions that were “carried out in a manner that amounts to torture” in a handwritten letter to the high court.

Despite the inmate’s efforts and Mayes’ motion, the Supreme Court said Thursday it was legally obligated to grant the warrant because Gunches has exhausted his appeals.

Hobbs responded Friday by saying the ruling doesn’t force the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry to move forward.

“The court’s decision order and warrant make clear … that the warrant authorizes an execution and does not require it,” she said.

She continued, “Therefore, the state and ADCRR does not intend to proceed with an execution on April 6, 2023.”

Last week, Hobbs appointed David Duncan, a retired federal judge, to serve as Death Penalty Independent Review Commissioner and oversee the review she ordered in January.

Duncan’s task is to thoroughly review the corrections department’s execution protocols and issue a report with recommendations for improvements.

While the review is ongoing, Hobbs said her corrections director appointee, Ryan Thornell, will work to “build up ADCRR’s staffing and competencies to be able to conduct an execution in compliance with state and federal laws, and will balance that work with the work needed to solve the urgent medical, mental health and other critical problems the director has inherited from the prior administration.”

Dale Baich, a former federal public defender who teaches death penalty law at Arizona State University, said Hobbs can use her authority as the state’s chief executive when the state believes it cannot carry out an execution in a constitutionally acceptable manner.

“What the governor did is not unique,” said Baich, who applauded Hobbs’ move. “Governors in Alabama, Ohio and Tennessee recently used their authority to pause executions because they had serious questions about the protocols in their states.”

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Gunches, issued a statement saying it believes Hobbs “has a constitutional and statutory responsibility to carry out all sentences, including the execution of Aaron Gunches.”

Arizona, which currently has 110 prisoners on death row, carried out three executions last year after a nearly eight-year hiatus that was brought on by criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining execution drugs.

Since resuming executions, the state has been criticized for taking too long to insert an IV for lethal injection into a condemned prisoner’s body in early May and for denying the Arizona Republic newspaper’s request to witness the last three executions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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