Court: Arizona governor not required to carry out execution

PHOENIX >> The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that state law doesn't require Gov. Katie Hobbs to carry out the April 6 execution of a prisoner who was convicted of murder.

The decision marks a legal victory for the newly elected Democratic governor whose office said the state isn't currently prepared to carry out the death penalty. The high court had set the April execution date for Aaron Gunches, who fatally shot Ted Price near Mesa, Arizona, in 2002.

The order came after Hobbs said executions will not be carried out until Arizonans can be confident that the state isn't violating constitutional rights when it enforces the death penalty.

The governor vowed two weeks ago that she wouldn't carry out the court's order while the state reviews death penalty protocols that she ordered because of Arizona's history of mismanaging executions.

Lawyers for Hobbs said the department lacks staff with proper expertise and does not have a current contract for a pharmacist to compound the pentobarbital needed for an execution. They also said corrections officials are unable to find out the identity of the state's prior compounding pharmacist, who primarily had contact with an official no longer with the department.

A top corrections leadership position critical to planning executions remains unfilled.

Corrections Director Ryan Thornell has said he was unable to find enough documentation to understand key elements of the execution process and instead has had to piece it together through conversations with employees on what might have occurred in past executions.

Hobbs maintained that while the court authorized Gunches' execution, its order doesn't require the state to carry it out.

Gunches pleaded guilty to murdering Ted Price, who was his girlfriend's ex-husband.