The Office of the Arizona Attorney General (AG) Kris Mayes filed a motion with Arizona Supreme Court to withdraw the requested execution warrant for Aaron Brian Gunches. In December the AG requested the warrant after Gunches expressed his wish to be executed. However, Gunches later filed for withdrawal of the request. The motion cited three recent incidents of “botched executions.” Earlier in January, the AG had clarified that the state had no objection to the death row prisoner’s request to withdraw his request for the issuance of a death sentence.

Gunches was sentenced to death for the 2002 death 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. The 51-year-old is among the 21 death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals. Arizona currently has 110 inmates on death row, with three executions already completed this year.

Consequently, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced a plan to better the state’s death penalty process by improving transparency and oversight. This would be done as follows:

An Independent Review Commissioner shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor to review and provide transparency into the ADCRR‘s lethal injection drug and gas chamber chemical procurement process, execution protocols, and staffing considerations including training and experience.

Further details about the same are outlined in the executive order issued by Governor’s office.