Entries tagged with “David Duncan”

Mental Illness

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Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Upcoming Executions

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Jan 07, 2025

Aaron Gunches Asks for February Execution Date, Raising New Concerns About Arizona’s Lethal Injection Protocol and the Execution of ​“Volunteers”

No jury has ever learned about Aaron Gunches’ life his­to­ry and expe­ri­ences, noth­ing about his child­hood, men­tal and phys­i­cal health, or trau­ma — the mit­i­ga­tion evi­dence that the Supreme Court has said is essen­tial to a con­sti­tu­tion­al death sen­tence. Arizona courts judged Mr. Gunches com­pe­tent to rep­re­sent him­self in two sep­a­rate tri­als for the mur­der of his ex-girlfriend’s hus­band, and he pre­sent­ed no defense in either pro­ceed­ing. Jurors twice sentenced him…

Lethal Injection

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Dec 02, 2024

Arizona Attorney General Announces State Ready to Resume Executions as Governor Hobbs Abruptly Ends Independent Review of Execution Protocols

On November 26, 2024, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced her office will resume seek­ing exe­cu­tion war­rants. AG Mayes’ announce­ment comes after Governor Katie Hobbs end­ed the state’s inde­pen­dent review of its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and process­es, dis­miss­ing retired fed­er­al mag­is­trate David Duncan before he had com­plet­ed his review. In a let­ter to Judge Duncan, Gov. Hobbs said his actions dur­ing the review went beyond his man­date. The review was launched in 2023, as new­ly elected Gov.