By Leslie Acevedo
PHOENIX, AZ – The Arizona Supreme Court declined this week to reschedule an execution set for this upcoming week after Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office said the state was not prepared to enforce the death penalty, according to the Associated Press.
AP reporter Jacques Billeaud writes the court declined scheduling a May 1 execution date for Aaron Gunches for his murder conviction in the 2002 killing of Ted Prince near Mesa. Grunches pleaded guilty to a murder charge in the shooting death of Ted Price, who was his girlfriend’s ex-husband.
The AP story notes Hobbs ordered a “review of Arizona’s death penalty protocols due to the state’s history of mismanaging executions,” vowing not to enforce any death sentence, and the state Supreme Court “rejected a request from Price’s sister, Karen Price, to order Hobbs to carry out the execution.”
As a result of being rejected, Price’s sister and his daughter Brittany Kay, have filed a lawsuit seeking to force Hobbs to execute Gunches, adds AP, noting an attorney for Karen Price, Colleen Clase, who focuses on crime victims’ rights did not respond for comment this week.
AP wrote Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell requested the court to extend the execution warrant by 25 days, as representatives from her office did not respond to a requesting comment, but reports, “Lawyers for Hobbs have said the state lacks staff with expertise to carry out an execution.”
“Gunches, who is not a lawyer, represented himself in November when he asked the Supreme Court to issue his execution warrant, saying justice could be served and the victim’s families could get closure,” reported AP, noting, “Gunches switched courses again, saying now that he wants to be executed and asked to be transferred to Texas, where, he wrote, ‘inmates can still get their sentences carried out.’”
