Death penalty paused in Arizona pending review into botched executions

Arizona has put the death penalty on hold after several executions went so badly wrong they were said to amount to ‘torture’.

The US state’s first Democratic governor since 2009, Katie Hobbs, has ordered a review into death penalty protocols on Friday.

Arizona carried out three executions last year, after eight years without any taking place.

The last execution before 2022 was in 2014, when Joseph Wood was injected with 15 doses, causing the prisoner to snort repeatedly and gasp more than 600 times before he died. 

This was largely due to how difficult it was and is for governments to get hold of execution drugs.

Multiple US and pharmaceutical companies have blocked the use of their products in lethal injections.

But Arizona revealed in October 2020 that it had established a solid supply of lethal injection drugs had found a pharmacist to prepare them.

Despite this the state has been accused of taking too long to insert the IV into a prisoner’s body.

The Arizona Republic newspaper requested to witness last year’s three executions but each of these were rejected.

Ms Hobbs said she believes ‘it’s time to address the fact that this is a system that needs better oversight on numerous fronts’.

Aaron Gunches, who killed his girlfriend’s ex-husband, was supposed to be the next execution but the new Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, has withdrawn her Republican predecessor’s request for a warrant to execute.

Gunches had originally requested to be executed but later made a U-turn on this.

Mr Mayes said recent executions had amounted to ‘torture’, saying a ‘thorough review of Arizona’s protocols and processes governing capital punishment is needed’.

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