WASHINGTON – Arizona will execute three death row inmates in 2022 after an eight-year hiatus.

And Attorney General Mark Brunovich has started moving toward a possible fourth execution after his resignation next month.

Brnović went to the Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday, death warrant Aaron Brian Ganches was a convicted murderer who waived all appeals and who petitioned A court last month asked for a death warrant “so that justice can be served lawfully and put an end to the families of the victims.”

The Attorney General’s Office agreed that Gantz had met the requirements for a writ of execution.of statement “We must never stop seeking justice for victims, their families and communities,” Brnovic said from his office.

Aaron Ganchez has repeatedly waived appeals after pleading guilty to killing a man and shooting a police officer in La Paz County in 2007. (Photo credit: Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry)

execution It was a partial fulfillment of a promise Brnović made in 2019 to settle a lawsuit with opponents of the death penalty over state execution protocols.he then said “It’s time to resume executions in Arizona, where 14 death row inmates have exhausted all automated means to appeal their sentences.”

It will be another three years before the state places a convicted killer Clarence Dixon The May 11, 2022 execution will be the first moratorium on the death penalty in Arizona since the failed execution of Joseph Wood in 2014. Less than a month after Dixon’s execution, he Frank Atwood Executed by lethal injection, November 16 Murray Hooper Executed. Atwood and Hooper were convicted of murder and other charges.

brnovic said 2020 letter “Every time an execution is delayed, the rights of the victim are violated.” But opponents of the death penalty said Arizona’s move to resume executions came too soon.

“The fact that Arizona has resumed executions and the ongoing problems with executions is something the state must proactively consider,” said Ngozi Nduele, deputy director of the Death Penalty Information Center. said.

The state suspended executions in 2014. failed execution According to eyewitnesses, Wood’s lethal injection left him gasping and snorting for nearly two hours on a stretcher in the death room. Wood’s executioner injected him 15 times with midazolam and hydromorphone. This is the “lethal cocktail” that has caused lengthy executions in Ohio and Oklahoma.

“It was very clear that something had gone very wrong,” Nduele said of Wood’s death.

Clarence Dixon was already serving a life sentence for sexual assault when DNA revealed that a woman had been murdered in Tempe in 1978 and executed this year. (Photo credit: Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry)

In the four years leading up to Wood’s execution, the state executed 14 inmates, with six executed in 2012 alone. However, after Wood, the death penalty was discontinued as states battled legal challenges to execution procedures and struggled to find alternative drugs to carry out the death sentence.

State review claims prison officials complied proper procedure According to reports, Wood’s execution did not suffer as much as it appeared. In 2020, the state secured a source of pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug, and in 2021, it renovated the state gas chambers, last used in 1999, as an alternative to lethal injection.

This sets the stage for a return to execution this year.

Critics say Arizona is at odds with other states, especially those that, like Arizona, have experienced problems with executions.

“Despite the fact that 23 states carry out the death penalty, very few actually execute people,” Nduele said. She said she had fewer than 30 executions nationwide since 2014.

A November 14 report found that a majority of Americans (55%) were in favor of the death penalty for convicted murderers. Gallup poll. However, this is a significant drop from the 80% who supported the death penalty for murderers in 1994.

“If you look at the history of the United States and, frankly, the history of the developed world, the death penalty will become less common over time,” said Joshua Spears, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona. I was. “It has come to be seen as an outdated and barbaric practice.”

Frank Atwood, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering an 8-year-old girl in Tucson in 1984, was executed a second time in Arizona on June 8 this year. (Photo credit: Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry)

Brnovic said 14 death row inmates had exhausted their automatic appeals when he launched a move to resume executions. That number has since grown to 21 of his 110 inmates now on death row in Arizona. However, Spears said, “Just because these people have appealed doesn’t necessarily give them confidence that their sentences or beliefs are correct.”

“Historically, Arizona’s problem . . . has been to provide qualified and well-compensated attorneys to those accused of capital crimes and facing a lengthy and complicated appeals process in Arizona.” Spears said.

Spears, who previously worked for the federal public defender’s capital habeas corpus division, said the process “does not always provide death row inmates the opportunities they need to challenge their convictions and sentences.”

Other challenges facing death row inmates are race and resources, said Donna Leone Hamm, director of middle-ground prison reform in Arizona.

“Those sentenced to death are the poor, often people of color or ethnic minorities, and that’s a common link not only in Arizona, but across the United States,” Ham said.

“Obviously, if you have the money to hire a lawyer, generally speaking, some plea to avoid the death penalty is much more likely to be negotiated,” she said.

Brnovic continues to seek executions on the go, but it’s not clear what his successor will do.the law requires the death penalty 35 days later A death warrant has been served, but Brnovic is now scheduled to leave office on January 5.

Murray Hooper was the third person to be executed by lethal injection in Arizona in 2022. The state refused his request to be executed in a gas chamber. (Photo credit: Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry)

The death penalty has not been a focus of the Attorney General battle between Democrat Chris Mays and Republican Abe Hamade. The competition between the automatic recount, After Mays finished the race with a lead of just 511 votes out of more than 2.5 million votes cast.

Ham said that attorneys general “regardless of their political beliefs or inclinations” cannot get around the fact that “Arizona has the death penalty.”

Brnovic is not confrontational.

When the Arizona Supreme Court issued Dixon’s writ of execution, Brunovich said, “I have promised the voters of Arizona that those who commit the ultimate crime will receive the ultimate punishment.” “I will continue to fight for justice every day for victims, their families and our communities.”

But Spears said, “There are still serious problems with the death penalty.”

“We know there is a disproportionate impact on people of color, and we know the value of deterrence is questionable,” he said.

“The first basic question to ask about the death penalty is … what is the purpose?” Spears asked. “What are the benefits of the death penalty? For example, why are we doing this?