PHOENIX — Arizona organizations are coming together, calling for transparency in the execution process in Arizona.
It comes after Governor Katie Hobbs fired the retired judge who was working on a review of the state's execution protocols and procedures, and instead said she's confident in a review completed by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
"Governor Hobbs claims that staffing changes within the Department of Corrections should reassure that any internal review should be trusted. However, it defies common sense and logic to believe that true transparency and fairness especially in this area can be achieved solely through internal reviews," Katie Gibson with Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice said.
In January 2023, Hobbs hired retired judge David Duncan to look into the state's troubled process for carrying out the death penalty, but Duncan never filed a report. Hobbs fired him at the end of November.
"I appreciate Judge Duncan for the work that he's done that it became clear in the process that he was just not up to the task. And just one example of that was he started saying that we should execute people by firing squad, and that is clearly unconstitutional, not the job he was hired to do," Hobbs said.
But the groups called Hobbs focus on that part of the draft report a 'red herring'.
"Judge Duncan, I believe uh was trying to use as an example, something that is unlawful in Arizona to show just how um inhumane uh lethal injection is," Jared Keenan with the ACLU of Arizona said.
Gibson called the moves a 'political ploy', and said Hobbs' decision was about her re-election campaign.
Attorney General Kris Mayes said she too finds confidence in the report done by the state prison director and says her office is moving forward to request an execution warrant from the Arizona Supreme Court for Aaron Gunches. Gunches was convicted of murdering Ted Price in 2002.
"I was frustrated a year ago about the pace of the of the review that Judge Duncan was doing," Mayes said. "There's no pandering going on here. We engaged in a very thorough review of the death penalty."
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