An Arizona death row inmate has asked the state Supreme Court to bypass legal proceedings and schedule his execution earlier than authorities had planned.
Aaron Brian Ganchis, 53, previously pleaded guilty and asked the state to carry out the death penalty after being found guilty of killing his girlfriend's ex-husband, Ted Price, in 2002. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection.
Granchez's execution will be the first since a two-year moratorium on execution procedures in Arizona.
In a handwritten court filing this week, Ganchis, who is not an attorney but is representing him, asked the state Superior Court to schedule the execution for mid-February.
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Aaron Brian Ganchis was convicted of murder in the 2002 killing of Ted Price in Maricopa County, Arizona. (Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, via AP)
He said the death sentence was “long overdue” and that the state was extending the process of asking the court for dates for legal briefings leading up to the execution.
Democratic Attorney General Chris Mays' office, which is pushing for Gantis' execution, has scheduled briefings to ensure corrections officials meet execution requirements, including testing for pentobarbital, the drug used in Gantis' lethal injection. He said it was necessary to do so.
Two years ago, Ganchis asked the state Supreme Court to issue a writ of execution, saying it would allow justice to be served and closure for the victims' families.
Lethal injection room in Alabama. Photographed October 7, 2002 at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. (AP)
Ganchis' execution was scheduled for April 2023, but Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs' office said the state was not prepared to carry out the death penalty because it lacked staff with the expertise to do so. Ta.
Hobbs had vowed not to carry out the death penalty until he was sure the state could do so without breaking the law. Mr. Hobbs ordered the review, which effectively ended in November with the firing of the former federal judge who had appointed him to lead the review.
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File: A stretcher in the execution chamber of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
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There are 111 death row inmates in Arizona, but the last execution was in 2022, with criticism that the 2014 execution was a failure and the difficulty in obtaining lethal injection drugs. Three inmates were put to death after executions were suspended for nearly a year.
The state has since faced criticism for taking too long to insert lethal injections into death row inmates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
