Arizona executes a man who murdered his girlfriend's ex-husband

FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona man who kidnapped and murdered his girlfriend's ex-husband was executed Wednesday, the second of four prisoners scheduled to be put to death this week in the U.S.

Aaron Brian Gunches, 53, was lethally injected with pentobarbital at the Arizona State Prison Complex in the town of Florence, John Barcello, deputy director of Arizona's department of corrections, told news outlets. He was pronounced dead at 10:33 a.m.

Gunches fatally shot Ted Price in the desert outside the Phoenix suburb of Mesa in 2002. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2007.

Sitting up on a gurney, covered with what looked like a white onesie and tucked in with a sheet, Gunches looked straight ahead and had no final words before the execution, witnesses said.

According to Barcello, the prisoner took a few heavy breaths and let out a snoring-type sound after the lethal injection.

“By all accounts, the process went according to plan without any incident at all," Barcello said.

An execution scheduled then delayed

Gunches' execution had originally been scheduled for April 2023, but was called off after Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered a review of the state's death penalty procedures. Late last year, Hobbs fired the retired judge she had appointed to conduct the review, and the state's corrections department announced changes in the team that lethally injects death row prisoners.

The lethal injection was administered through IVs inserted into Gunches’ arms, according to a handful of news media representatives who witnessed the execution. In the state’s two previous executions, the IV had been inserted into the prisoner’s femoral artery.

The media witnesses reported no visible problems with the execution. But Dale Baich, a former federal public defender who teaches death penalty law at Arizona State University and witnessed the execution, said he believed Gunches suffered from pulmonary edema, when fluid seeps into the lungs and causes people to drown in their own fluids.

“The eight deep breaths and chest heaving, the gurgling sounds, and Mr. Gunches trying to catch his breath, are all signs of pulmonary edema,” Baich said. “Even though it may have looked peaceful, it was not.”

The Associated Press left an email message with corrections officials seeking comment. Michael Kiefer, of the Arizona Mirror, said he did not see any signs of pulmonary edema, such as a shaking or jerking of Gunches’ abdomen.

For his last meal, Gunches had a double western bacon cheeseburger, two sandwiches, french fries, onion rings and baklava for dessert.

Gunches is the second person executed this week in the U.S. Louisiana executed a man on Tuesday, and two more executions were scheduled in Florida and Oklahoma on Thursday. Arizona is the first state with a Democratic governor to execute someone since 2017, when Virginia did so under then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

The end of a long, painful process

“The family of Ted Price has been waiting for justice for more than two decades,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said at a news conference following Wednesday’s execution. “They deserve closure.”

Price's sister Karen Price described her brother as a kind and loving person who enjoyed watching the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks and riding his motorcycle. She said her family was devastated by Ted’s death.

“I’d like to imagine we would be both enjoying our retirement and perhaps planning a trip together, rather than me coming here to witness the execution of a man that took his life,” Price said Wednesday.

She added that “closure” doesn’t capture the reality of the family’s situation. “Although we’ve taken the final step in the legal process, the pain of losing Ted remains profound and cannot be conveyed in mere words. It is a relief that we no longer have to deal with lawyers, sift through documents, check prison records, or communicate with victims’ advocates or reporters,” she said.

Ted Price’s daughter, Brittney Price, said in a statement distributed to the news media that the “pain of reliving the circumstances surrounding my father’s death for over two decades has taken a significant toll on my family and me.”

“Today marks the end of that painful chapter and I couldn’t be more grateful,” she said.

The killing

Authorities say Ted Price’s ex-wife struck him in the face with a phone during an argument in late 2002 at her apartment, leaving him conscious but dazed. Karen Price said her brother had threatened to report his ex to child welfare authorities for doing drugs in front of their children.

Gunches arrived at the apartment later. He asked two other women who were there with his girlfriend to put Price in a car and drive him to a bus station. But when they realized they didn’t have enough money for a bus ticket, they instead drove into the desert, where Gunches shot Price, authorities said.

Gunches was arrested in January 2003 after being pulled over by an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper near the California state line. Gunches shot the trooper, who was saved by a bulletproof vest. Bullet casings from that shooting matched ammunition that had been found near Price’s body, and Gunches was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in October 2003.

Gunches tried to move up the execution

Gunches, who represented himself even though he isn’t a lawyer, asked the Arizona Supreme Court in 2022 to issue an execution warrant against him to give closure to Price’s family. He later withdrew the request. The execution was scheduled anyway but later postponed amid the review ordered by Hobbs.

In late December, Gunches asked the state's highest court to skip legal formalities and schedule his execution as soon as possible, saying his death sentence was "long overdue." The court refused the request and later set his execution date for Wednesday.

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This story has been updated to correct the state attorney general's last name to Mayes, not Maye.

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Billeaud reported from Phoenix.