There are ties to La Paz County in the case of Aaron Ganches, a convicted murderer who asked Arizona to carry out his death sentence. He was sentenced to death in 2008 for his murder in late 2002, but was arrested in La Paz County in early 2003 and later convicted in the La Paz Superior Court for the shooting death of an Arizona public safety officer. rice field.
Gantis was embroiled in a dispute between the Arizona Supreme Court and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office on one side and Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Chris Mays on the other. The Supreme Court issued a death warrant and ordered an execution date of April 6 for Gantz, but Hobbes said he would not carry out the execution until a review of Arizona’s death penalty system was completed.
Gunches was convicted in the December 2002 murder of Ted Price in Mesa. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to the murder of Price and was sentenced to death. Since then he has been on death row.
In one of his last acts during his tenure, former Attorney General Mark Brnovic asked the Supreme Court for a death warrant for Ganch. In November 2022, Ganchez sent a memo to the Supreme Court asking for an execution date so that justice can be served and victims can close. In January, he withdrew that request. He said he had read reports of false executions in the province leading to torture.
On March 2, the Supreme Court approved the death warrant and set an execution date of April 6.
However, Gov. Hobbes said her office would not execute the warrant because of an ongoing review of Arizona’s criminal system. Appointed former U.S. Justice of the Peace David Duncan to investigate capital punishment procedures.
Mays said her office will not seek a death warrant while the review is ongoing.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which indicted Ganche, said Hobbes, as governor, has a constitutional obligation to enforce all judgments from the courts.
The La Paz County side of the incident began on January 15, 2003. At about 9:00 p.m., Ganches headed east on Interstate 10 about 10 miles east of Quartzsite. He was stopped by his DPS officer Robert Flannery because the red taillights of his 1990 Nissan were out. Ganch, who already had a bench warrant for his arrest, fired two shots at Flannery and slowed him down.
Flannery was saved by a Kevlar vest after being hit in the chest. Her second shot bounced off the clock.
Gunches exits I-10 onto US 60 and is spotted moving at high speed by another DPS officer. A spike strip was placed at milepost 73. He fled on foot into the desert.
Law enforcement officers from La Paz County, DPS, Maricopa County, U.S. Border Patrol, and the City of Phoenix all participated in the approximately 15-hour search. Tracking dogs and helicopters were brought in.
At 1:00 pm on January 16, 2003, approximately five miles east of Wenden, Border Patrol officers and La Paz County deputies found and arrested Gunches.
With a criminal record, a history of not appearing in court, and a warrant already in place for his arrest, Ganchez’s bail was set at $1.8 million.
The Arizona Star reported that a shell found at the scene of the Flanner shooting linked Gunches’ weapon to Pierce’s murder.
On April 19, 2004, as part of a plea bargain, Gantis was convicted in the La Paz County Superior Court of first-degree attempted murder in the Flannery shooting. Judge Michael Burke handed down his sentence of 23 years, the maximum sentence. Several other felony charges against him have been dismissed.
Fox News reported that lawyers for Karen Price, sister of Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell and Ted Price, told the Arizona Supreme Court that Hobbs had no legal authority to defy the order.
Arizona halted executions after Joseph Wood’s false execution in 2014. Executions resumed in 2022, and Clarence Dixon was found guilty of murdering Deanalynn his Bowdoin in 1978. He was executed on May 11. The crime was not solved until his 2001. Frank Atwood he was executed on June 8th. Eight-year-old Vicky Lynn Hoskinson was murdered in 1984.
Lawyers representing Hobbes filed in the Arizona Supreme Court on March 15, according to Fox News, saying that because the state is not currently prepared to carry out the death penalty in a constitutionally sound manner, the court will dismiss Price’s case. He said it should not be tried.
