A 53-year-old man convicted of murder was put to death by lethal injection in Arizona on Wednesday in the first execution in the southwestern U.S. state in more than two years.
Aaron Gunches, who had dropped legal efforts to halt his execution, was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband.
“Justice for Ted Price and his family was finally served,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told reporters following the execution at a state prison in Florence, Arizona.
Media witnesses said Gunches was placed on a gurney in the death chamber and restraints were put on his arms and legs.
Asked if he had any last words, Gunches shook his head to say no.
Intravenous lines were then inserted into his arms and Gunches breathed heavily several times after the drugs began to flow, the witnesses said.
He lost consciousness and his chest stopped moving several minutes later.
Gunches was declared dead at 10:33 a.m. local time and “the process went according to plan and without incident,” the Arizona Department of Corrections said in a statement.
Gunches was the first prisoner put to death in Arizona since November 2022.
Problems with administering lethal injections in previous executions led to a suspension of capital punishments while a review was conducted.
Gunches was executed one day after a 46-year-old man convicted of rape and murder was put to death by nitrogen gas in the southern state of Louisiana.
Jessie Hoffman, who was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Molly Elliott, a 28-year-old advertising executive, was the first person executed in Louisiana in 15 years. Nitrogen gas has been used just four other times to execute a person in the United States — all in Alabama, the only other state with a protocol for the method, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.
Hoffman’s attorneys sought to stop the execution saying in court filings the method is unconstitutional, violating the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The state’s attorney general said at least four people are expected to be executed this year.
The next execution is scheduled to take place in Oklahoma on March 20, and there are 11 remaining executions scheduled for 2025, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
