Aaron Brian Gunches (June 30, 1971 – March 19, 2025) was an American prisoner who was executed in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

after being convicted of the 2002 murder of Ted Price. Gunches attracted notoriety for repeatedly requesting his own execution and criticizing the state of Arizona for not carrying out his sentence. Gunches was the first person executed under a Democratic governor since the 2017 execution of William Morva in Virginia.

Early life and crimes

Gunches was born in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

on June 30, 1971. Little is known about his early life, except that he graduated high school and worked in construction. He came to Arizona sometime in the 1990s and served prison time for weapons and drug charges, being released in 2001. On November 14, 2002, Gunches went to the home of his girlfriend, Katherine Lecher, in

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 504,258 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Arizona, third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, T ...

. Upon arrival, he discovered that she had been involved in an altercation with her ex-husband, Ted Price, who had come to visit her earlier that day. Price had been struck in the face with a telephone and he was on the floor in a daze. Gunches then had his girlfriend and her roommates help load Price into his car, with the supposed intention to drop him off at a bus station. However, Gunches soon realized he did not have the money to buy Price a bus ticket. Gunches and an acquaintance then drove Price out into the desert off the Beeline Highway. As Price got out of the car, Gunches shot him four times, killing him. According to Price's sister, Katherine was addicted to

meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational or performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity ...

and was living in squalor with the two children she had with Price. On the day of the murder, Price allegedly threatened to call child protective services on Kat, accusing her of neglecting their children. In response, Kat called Gunches, her drug dealer at the time, and asked him to "take care" of the situation. On January 15, 2003,

Arizona Department of Public Safety Arizona is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the northwest and California to the west, and ...

Officer Robert Flannery pulled over Gunches in his car during a routine traffic stop. Gunches then fired at Flannery and shot him twice. He then fled the scene. Flannery was injured in the shooting, but survived. After the shooting, a manhunt involving over fifty lawmen began. The day after the shooting, Gunches was found hiding in a haystack in Wenden and arrested. He was charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder.

Trial

In 2004, Gunches pleaded guilty to the murder of Ted Price. In 2008, Gunches was sentenced to death.

Death warrant and execution

In November 2022, Gunches represented himself and asked the Arizona Supreme Court to issue his execution warrant so that justice could be served and the victims could get closure. Arizona Attorney General

Mark Brnovich Mark Brnovich (born 1966) is an American attorney and politician who was the 26th Attorney General of Arizona from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he was an unsuccessful candidate for its nomination in the 2022 U.S. Senate ele ...

asked the Arizona Supreme Court to issue a warrant for Gunches's execution. In January 2023, Gunches withdrew his request, saying recent executions were "torture." Attorney General

Kris Mayes Kristin Kay Mayes (born September 6, 1971) is an American attorney, reporter, and politician who is the Arizona Attorney General. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Mayes was 2022 Arizona Attorney General election ...

took office and on January 20, 2023, newly elected

Governor of Arizona A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Katie Hobbs Kathleen Marie Hobbs (born December 28, 1969) is an American politician serving since 2023 as the 24th governor of Arizona. A member of the Democratic Party, she was secretary of state of Arizona from 2019 to 2023 and a member of the Arizona Le ...

ordered a review of the state's death penalty protocols. Mayes attempted to withdraw Brnovich's request for the warrant, but on March 2, 2023, the court issued the warrant for April 6, 2023, stating that it must issue the warrant after certain appellate proceedings were concluded. Following the issuance, Governor Hobbs stated that the warrant authorized the execution of Gunches but did not require the state to carry out the execution. Karen Price, Ted Price's sister, then submitted a petition for special action asking the Arizona Supreme Court to direct Hobbs to carry out the warrant.

Maricopa County Maricopa County () is a county in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the fourth-most populous county in the United States and ...

Attorney Rachel Mitchell filed an

amicus curiae An amicus curiae (; ) is an individual or organization that is not a Party (law), party to a legal case, but that is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. Wheth ...

brief supporting Karen Price's petition. Hobbs filed a motion stating the court should not consider Karen Price's motion because the state is not prepared to carry out an execution in a constitutionally sound manner and lacks correctional staff with proper expertise. Arizona Department of Corrections Director Ryan Thornell said he was "unable to find enough documentation to understand key elements of the execution process and instead has had to piece information together through conversations with employees present at past executions." The

Arizona Supreme Court The Arizona Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Arizona. Sitting in the Supreme Court building in downtown Phoenix, the court consists of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justices. Each justi ...

denied the request to extend the warrant, and did not order the State to execute Gunches. The warrant expired in April 2023. On June 5, 2024, another request for Gunches's execution warrant was filed by Mitchell on behalf of Maricopa County. Attorney General Mayes moved to strike the motion, arguing that only the attorney general could file such a request. Attorney General Mayes announced on November 26 that she would request another warrant for Gunches within two weeks.

2025 death warrant

In early January 2025, Gunches again submitted a written request to be executed. He specifically requested the process be expedited to a mid-February execution date, and criticized the Arizona court system for dragging its feet in carrying out the execution. Gunches asked to skip the "legal formalities" of approving his execution. On January 10, the state attorney general filed a motion to seek an

execution warrant An execution warrant (also called a death warrant or a black warrant) is a writ that authorizes the Capital punishment, execution of a capital punishment, condemned person. United States In the United States, either a judicial or executi ...

, and on February 11, the

issued the warrant, scheduling Gunches's execution date for March 19, 2025. After the warrant was issued, Gunches confirmed that he would not ask for a reprieve and that he still wanted his execution to proceed. Following the execution of

Jessie Hoffman Jr. Jessie Dean Hoffman Jr. (September 1, 1978 – March 18, 2025) was an American convicted murderer who was sentenced to death in Louisiana for the 1996 rape and murder of Molly Elliott. On November 26, 1996, Hoffman, then 18, abducted the 28-ye ...

on March 18, 2025, Aaron Gunches was one of four inmates scheduled to be executed over a three-day period, from March 18 to March 20, 2025. The other two were: Edward Thomas James of Florida (March 20, 2025), and Wendell Grissom of Oklahoma (March 20, 2025).

Execution

Gunches's execution took place on March 19, 2025, at the Florence State Prison. He was executed by lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 10:33 MST. His last meal consisted of a double western burger, spicy

gyros Gyros, sometimes anglicized as a gyro (; , ), is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced and served wrapped or stuffed in pita bread, along with other ingredients such as tomato, onion, fried potatoes, and tzatziki. In Greece, it is ...

, onion rings and

baklava Baklava (, or ; ) is a layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine. There are several theories for the origin of th ...

. Gunches gave no final statement.

References