ACLU asks AZ Supreme Court to withdraw execution request of condemned man

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona filed a motion on Friday asking the Arizona Supreme Court to postpone ruling on a pair of withdrawn requests to execute a condemned man, Aaron Gunches.

Gunches had asked to be executed, but later withdrew that motion, and the Arizona Attorney General's Office also reversed course after the November election changed the leadership there.

An amicus brief was released Friday by the ACLU arguing why the Arizona Supreme Court should fulfill the request of Attorney General Kris Mayes to withdraw the execution request of Gunches, 51.

The high court is scheduled to make a ruling on Feb. 28.

Gunches was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, a former longtime boyfriend of Gunches' girlfriend. Gunches kidnapped and shot Price multiple times in a desert area off the Beeline Highway.

He pled guilty to kidnapping and first-degree murder in 2004.

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Gunches files for own death warrant 'so justice may be served'

Last November, Gunches filed a motion to issue a death warrant, "so justice may be served and give closure to the family." The attorney general at the time, Mark Brnovich, requested the execution warrant a few days later.

Karen Price, the victim's sister, wants the execution to move forward and to bring an end to her family's ordeal. In a previous court filing she said that she has a constitutional right "to a prompt and final conclusion of the case."

However, Gunches filed to withdraw his execution motion after he became aware that the execution process was flawed. This realization came after he read an Arizona Republic article quoting Mayes, who said, "We need to take some time to assess how the death penalty has worked, and make sure that this is done legally and correctly."

Gunches also cited three lethal injection executions in 2022 where the Arizona Department of Corrections execution team members struggled to insert intravenous lines during the injection process.

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After assuming office, Mayes agreed to withdraw the state's motion to execute Gunches.

After a string of recent problematic executions, Mayes and Gov. Katie Hobbs decided to pause death executions in Arizona last month. Hobbs established a Death Penalty Independent Commissioner, who will be tasked with "reviewing and providing transparency" into staff training and the execution protocol, according to a statement Hobbs provided when she announced the new position.

The rationale for the pause of executions and the establishment of the commissioner position mirrors the reasoning in ACLU's latest brief, which also called for a review of execution protocol. The biggest problems the ACLU listed were poor administration of the drugs, failure to insert IVs correctly and sudden effects that some injection drugs have on patients that fill the lungs with fluid.

Due to these issues, the ACLU is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to delay its decision on Gunches' execution until Mayes and Hobbs review the systemic failures of the execution process and come up with alternatives.

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Brief highlights Arizona's 2022 executions

The brief highlighted four executions the ACLU called botched, three of which took place in 2022. In 2014, Joseph Wood was administered 15 doses of the lethal sedative drug midazolam. He died after two hours of gasping for air. State officials denied that procedures went wrong during the procedure, and that Wood experienced significant pain, according to the brief.

In the 2022 executions of Clarence Dixon, Frank Atwood, and Murray Hooper, the ACLU wrote that prison officials struggled to find a vein - putting the prisoners through extreme pain.

The Arizona Department of Corrections declined to answer comments about its execution process and struggles with IV insertion after the three executions last year. The agency claimed that information was protected under state law.

Issues with inserting the injection into one's vein is a widespread issue in all executing states, the ACLU said. Last year, the Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit organization that analyses information on capital punishment, coined 2022 the "year of botched executions" in its annual report.

That is enough evidence to support Mayes' decision to withdraw the motion of Gunches' death warrant, the ACLU said.

Multiple lethal injection executions that went wrong were cited in the brief. Many states that had issues with IV access paused or stopped utilizing the procedure, with some states ordering reviews of their capital punishment and execution processes. Something that the ACLU has praised Hobbs for.

"Governor Hobbs took an important step by ordering a pause to executions and a review of our state's execution procedures," said Joshua Spears, policy counsel in an ACLU of Arizona press release about the brief.

The ACLU say that Hobbs is in the best position to decide that a review of execution protocols is necessary because her office has access to the most relevant information.

Spears said in the press release that former Gov. Doug Ducey spent millions obtaining execution drugs from secret sources, with no guarantee or efficacy.

"We cannot continue to carry out executions without answering important questions about the drugs, the execution protocol, and the qualifications of the pharmacist and executioners involved in the process."

In his motion to withdraw his death warrant, Gunches said that he did not want to be tortured before he is executed.

"For the Arizona Supreme Court to issue an execution warrant under the current conditions," wrote Gunches, "amounts to court ordered cruel and unusual punishment, which simply cannot be allowed."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ACLU asks AZ Supreme Court to withdraw Aaron Gunches execution request