Kris Mayes said she'd uphold the death penalty. Don't let her renege now

In the closing days of the 2022 election, The Arizona Republic asked Democrat attorney general candidate Kris Mayes about her stance on the death penalty.

Mayes replied, “The death penalty is the law of Arizona. Any attorney general takes an oath to faithfully enforce the law.”

Yet, less than 30 days after taking office, Mayes joined with Gov. Katie Hobbs to halt executions in Arizona, taking the fate of our state’s most heinous criminals into their own hands and away from the Arizona judges and juries that convicted them.

Aaron Gunches was convicted of murder

Recently, Mayes’ commitment to her liberal agenda allowed convicted murderer Aaron Gunches to avoid justice.

In 2003, Gunches was prosecuted and convicted by Democrat Attorney General Terry Goddard, pleading guilty to the kidnapping and the bloody first-degree murder of his girlfriend’s former husband.

The body of Gunches’ victim was found in the desert, having been shot multiple times.

Gunches also twice shot an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer, Robert Flaherty, during a routine traffic stop.

Per the Attorney General’s Office, but for Officer Flaherty’s bulletproof vest, he would have lost his life.

The justice system worked in his case

Bullet casings from the scene of Officer Flannery’s shooting were matched to casings found at the crime scene where Gunches’ murder victim was discovered.

Following his guilty plea, Gunches was sentenced to death in 2008; in 2010 the Arizona Supreme Court found an error in the sentencing proceeding and the case was remanded for new sentencing.

In 2013, Gunches was again sentenced to death. After years of appeals, in November 2022, Gunches himself asked the Arizona Supreme Court to issue a death warrant, “so that justice may be lawfully served and give closure to the victim’s family.”

In March 2023, following Arizona law, the Arizona Supreme Court granted his warrant of execution for death.

In sum, the criminal justice process worked.

Mayes and Hobbs want to ignore all that

Mayes and Hobbs have decided that their political agendas should take priority over serving justice and protecting crime victims.

Just last month they took Gunches’ case to the Arizona Supreme Court, which ruled that, although a writ of execution has been issued, the governor is under no duty to carry it out.

Arizona has 110 prisoners on death row – 21 of whom have exhausted all appeals but who will not face justice because of an attorney general who is refusing to request writs of execution and a governor unwilling to execute convicted murderers.

How did this happen? Another convicted killer is back in court

It is not the job of our elected officials to pick winners and losers, nor to push the “pause” button on due process when it’s politically advantageous.

Our state cannot become one that ignores the rule of law.

Send this to the ballot to enforce the law

The longer Mayes and Hobbs hold water for Arizona’s most atrocious criminals, the longer families of victims go without justice.

And the more taxpayer money is wasted caring for those who have been convicted and sentenced by Arizona’s courts for their crimes.

I implore our Arizona Legislature to work with Arizona’s 15 county attorneys to draft and send a voter referendum to the 2024 ballot requiring that:

• a death warrant be issued in cases where a jury has imposed the death penalty,

• within 90 days of a death row inmate exhausting their available appeals, and

• that the warrant be carried out by the Department of Corrections within 90 days after issuance.

We must ensure that justice is always served in Arizona, even when politicians like Mayes and Hobbs refuse to enforce the law.

Rodney Glassman is an Air Force prosecutor and private sector attorney in Phoenix. Reach him at rodney@slaviceklaw.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kris Mayes refuses to uphold the death penalty. Don't let her renege