Arizona to execute Gunches, as he's sought for years

Barring unforeseen developments, Arizona will carry out its first execution since 2022 on Wednesday.

State of play: Rather than fight his death sentence, Aaron Gunches has repeatedly advocated for his own execution.

• He pleaded guilty in 2004 to kidnapping and murdering Ted Price, his then-girlfriend's ex-partner.
• After an argument between Price and his ex, Gunches and another man drove Price to a bus station. After Gunches realized he didn't have enough money to buy a bus ticket for Price, they drove Price into the desert, where Gunches shot him four times in the back of the head.
• In January 2003, Gunches also shot a Department of Public Safety officer in La Paz County near the California state line. The officer survived and Gunches was later arrested.

Catch up quick: Because prosecutors sought the death penalty, Gunches still had to go to trial despite his guilty plea.

• In his 2013 death penalty retrial — the Arizona Supreme Court threw out his 2008 death sentence — Gunches, who represented himself, told the jury: "Do what you're going to do," the Arizona Mirror reported.
• He refused to appeal and asked the Arizona Attorney General's Office to execute him.
• Earlier this month, Gunches passed up an opportunity to seek a reprieve when he skipped a hearing before the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency.

Flashback: Arizona paused executions for eight years after a botched lethal injection administered in 2014 to Joseph Wood, who gasped and gulped for air for nearly two hours before he died.

• The state has had trouble obtaining lethal injection drugs.
• Three death row inmates were executed in 2022 — none went smoothly — and Gunches was scheduled to be the next.
• But Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes paused executions after taking office in 2023, and Hobbs appointed retired federal magistrate judge David Duncan to review Arizona's lethal injection procedures.

The intrigue: Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell attempted to circumvent Hobbs and Mayes last year when she asked the Arizona Supreme Court to issue a new death warrant for Gunches.

• Hobbs fired Duncan in November before he completed his inquiry, saying he went beyond the scope of her instructions. Corrections officials objected to the draft of his report, which found that lethal injection was "not a viable method of execution in actual practice."
• Mayes sought a new death warrant for Gunches in December, prompting Mitchell to drop her case.
• Duncan said he didn't think Arizona was ready to resume executions and raised concerns with the state's lethal injection system, which he called "a violent act in every case."

What we're watching: The Arizona House gave preliminary approval last month to a proposed ballot measure that would give voters a choice on whether to change the state's method of execution to firing squad. Duncan has said that method would be more humane.

• Earlier this month, South Carolina executed Brad Sigmon by firing squad, the first time in 15 years that method had been used in the U.S.
• Arizona carried out executions using the gas chamber until 1992, when voters approved a switch to lethal injection.