The Arizona Supreme Court has granted the State's request to issue a warrant for the execution of Aaron Brian Gunches.
The decision came down on Tuesday after the Attorney General filed a motion on January 10. Gunches did not oppose the motion.
It comes after a two-year pause in Arizona executions due to concerns that the Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry had botched the process during prior lethal injections.
Gunches is on death row for the 2002 murder of Ted Price.
Last month, ABC15 spoke exclusively with the victim's sisters, who want to see the sentence carried out.
Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a court motion seeking a warrant for the execution of Gunches, who pleaded guilty in 2007.
The court had issued a death warrant for Gunches nearly two years ago, but the sentence wasn’t carried out because Gov. Katie Hobbs paused executions in order to review the state’s death penalty protocol.
In November, Hobbs dismissed the retired federal magistrate she had appointed to conduct the review. Instead, she accepted a report by the state prison director who outlined new procedures for the execution process.
Gunches, who is representing himself, asked the court to speed up that process and issue the warrant. The death row inmate, in a hand-written note, even noted a possible execution date of February 14.
Gunches is set to be executed by lethal injection on March 19.
Karen Price, the sister of the victim, provided the following statement to ABC15 regarding Tuesday's announcement:
My brother, Ted Price, was 40 years old when he was murdered in 2002. Ted was a kind and loving person who always brought out the best in other people. He enjoyed watching the Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ted also loved riding his motorcycle and caring for his cat.
Inmate Gunches took Ted from his ex-girlfriend’s apartment at gunpoint. Ted was beaten and tased until he was unable to defend himself and then shoved into the back seat of a car and driven to a remote part of the desert. Ted was forced to kneel before he was shot three times in the chest and once in the back of the head. After Inmate Gunches shot my brother, he left him for dead and then disposed of Ted’s belongings in dumpsters in an attempt to prevent his body from being identified.
It’s impossible to describe how Ted’s murder has devastated our family. Ted has two children who were teenagers at the time he was taken from them; their lives were forever changed the day their dad was murdered. Learning the facts of how much Ted suffered before he was killed has been very difficult. Ted’s body laid in the desert for so long that we were unable to have an open casket at his funeral.
Inmate Gunches pleaded guilty to murdering Ted. Our family has waited patiently for over 22 years for justice and finality—both of which are guaranteed to us by Arizona’s Victims’ Bill of Rights. Tonight, we are relieved that the Arizona Supreme Court has issued the Warrant of Execution.
