Deposit photo (modified)
By Jimmy Jenkins || The Arizona Republic
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Department of Corrections Director Ryan Thornell must appear in court to defend their refusal to execute death row prisoner Aaron Gunches, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled.
Judge Frank Moskowitz issued the order to appear on Friday, in response to a complaint from the family of the man Gunches killed. They say the governor’s refusal to act on a warrant for Gunches’ execution amounts to a denial of their rights as crime victims as guaranteed in the Arizona Constitution.
Gunches was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder 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.
Despite announcements from Hobbs and state Attorney General Kris Mayes that Arizona would pause executions pending a review by an independent commissioner, the state Supreme Court granted a warrant for Gunches, setting an execution date for April 6.
After Hobbs said she would not act on the warrant, attorneys for the Price family asked the Supreme Court to force the governor to carry out the execution. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the governor, saying the warrant authorized her to conduct the execution, but it did not compel her to do so.
The court acknowledged that the Arizona Constitution provides that the governor “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” and that the governor is obligated to protect victims’ rights to justice and due process, but it said those were “mixed questions of law and fact that are not properly before us.”
