An Arizona death row inmate wants to be executed earlier than the state plans

An Sentenced to death in Arizona asked the state Supreme Court to skip the legal formalities and schedule his execution earlier than officials had planned.

Aaron Brian Gunchess, 53, previously sought the state’s execution of his conviction for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband, to which he pleaded guilty. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection.

Granches’ execution will be the first use of the death penalty in Arizona after a two-year hiatus to review execution procedures.

In a handwritten statement to the court this week, Hanches, who is not a lawyer but represents himself, urged state supreme court schedule his execution for mid-February.

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Aaron Brian Gunchess was convicted of murdering Ted Price in 2002 in Maricopa County, Arizona. (Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry via AP)

He said a death sentence was “long overdue” and that the state was delaying the process by asking the court to schedule legal briefings leading up to the execution.

The office of Attorney General Chris Mays, a Democrat who is handling Hanches’ death row, said a schedule of briefings should be set to ensure corrections officials comply with the requirements of the sentence, including testing for pentobarbital, which will be used in his lethal injection.

Two years ago, Hanches petitioned the state Supreme Court to issue a warrant for his execution on the grounds that justice could be served and the victim’s family could have closure.

A lethal injection chamber in Alabama is shown on October 7, 2002. at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. (AP)

Hanches was scheduled to be executed in April 2023 before Democratic Gov. Kathy Hobbs’ office said the state was not ready to carry out the death penalty because it did not have the expertise to carry out executions.

Hobbes promised not to carry out any death sentences until he was sure that the state could do it without breaking any laws. Hobbs ordered the review, which effectively ended in November when she fired the retired federal judge she appointed to lead the review.

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FILE: A gurney in an execution cell at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Sue Agrotsky)

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In Arizona, 111 prisoners were sentenced to death, but the last ones were executed death sentences in 2022, when three inmates were put to death, after a nearly eight-year hiatus caused by criticism that the 2014 execution was botched and difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs.

The state has since faced criticism for taking too long to administer an IV for a lethal injection to a death row inmate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.