Should Arizona grant a condemned inmate his death wish?

Over the years I've had many wasted conversations about the death penalty and two that counted, each with an inmate who was about to be killed by the state of Arizona.

Those conversations came back to me recently because a murderer on death row named Aaron Grunches is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to issue a death warrant “so that justice may be lawfully served and give closure to the victim’s family.”

Grunches kidnapped and shot to death Ted Price, the former husband of his girlfriend, in 2002.Now, he wants us to kill him. Sooner rather than later.One of the murderers I spoke with was like that. His name was John George Brewer. He was executed in 1993.Six years earlier he strangled his pregnant girlfriend and had sex with the corpse.

I’m sorry. There is no easy way to say that.

Brewer would become the first Arizona inmate executed by lethal injection. Like Grunches, Brewer asked to be killed, refusing appeals.

'Execution is a proper punishment'

When I interviewed Brewer, late in 1992, he told me that he'd always believed in capital punishment.

''I am a murderer,” he said. “Execution is a proper punishment for murder. No ifs, ands or buts about it. It's something that has to be.''

''If that's what you have always believed,'' I asked him, ''why didn't you kill yourself after the murder?''

''That's a fair and good question,'' he said. ''But, my point is not to die. My point is to pay for the crime I committed.''

Brewer tried to commit suicide several times over his life, beginning when he was just nine. What he could not do to himself he wanted the state to do for him.

And we did.

At the end of our conversation I asked, ''If I was to wish you good luck, what would I be wishing for?''

''That I'll be able to pay for my crime,'' he said. ''The proper end result would be execution.''

'I accept whatever they do to me'

The other murderer with whom I had a long conversation about the death penalty was Donald Harding, a triple-murderer who in 1992 became the first person executed in Arizona in 29 years, convulsing his way to the next life during an 11-minute nightmare in the state's gas chamber.

After that, we switched to lethal injection.

When we first spoke, Harding asked me not to print anything until after his execution. When I asked why he said it had something to do with his last words, just before executioners released the gas.

''I'm not really sure what I can say,'' he said. ''I do want to personally apologize to the families of the victims. That seems so shallow, and I have held off on doing that until the appropriate time, where it won't seem like a ploy for getting sympathy. That's not what I'm after.

''I accept whatever they do to me. It's unfortunate that this society will go to that extreme in dealing with my situation, and I, of course, set the stage for all of it, but I'm ready. I've accepted it. I doubt if anyone is more prepared to die than I am.''

'Murder is barbic. It doesn't matter who's doing it.'

Did he believe in the death penalty?

''Murder is barbaric,'' he said. ''It doesn't matter who's doing it. It's no solution. People speak of the death penalty being a deterrent…. Those types of crimes are on the increase. It will not be possible to execute at the rate crimes are occurring. It's like mopping the floor with the faucet still running.''

What about closure? I asked, both for victim families and for society. I told him there were family members of his victims who'd expressed a desire for him to die. Did he think about that?

''Oh, I think about them all the time,'' he said. ''I can't express the regret that I feel for what I've done to those people and their families. What I've done to my own family. And I understand their feelings. I just wish that when my execution takes place on April 6 that, somehow, magically, it would erase all of that.''

He paused, then added, ''But, it won't.''

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Should Arizona grant a condemned inmate his death wish?