Aaron Gunches Execution

I have consistently provided a link to Justice Breyer's dissent against the death penalty which includes a section on constitutional problems with long delays. 

A long stay on death row is cruel and unusual. It also is problematic to execute someone so long after the fact. They are not the same person. It is not the same situation. Things have changed.  

Sometimes, people want to die. They are "volunteers" though it is not always clear how voluntary and competent the decision-making is. Nonetheless, yes, I think it can be rational to want to die. 

The 53-year-old Arizona death row inmate has always his admitted to murdering his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend in the desert in 2002, and has long sought a swift execution, saying in one handwritten court filing that he wanted it to move forward "so that justice may be lawfully served and give closure to the victim's family."

Aaron Gunches was arrested after shooting an Arizona Public Safety Officer at a traffic stop (the officer survived). Gunches defended himself with an advisory counsel. The state, even if he doesn't like it, still has to follow minimal standards. This delayed his execution. 

Repeated problems with lethal injections led Arizona to have a moratorium since 2022. The former federal magistrate judge assigned to study the matter still thinks they aren't ready. The Democratic governor disagrees. Meanwhile, the legislature -- stop me if you heard this before -- is thinking about the firing squad.

Gunches got his wish and was executed this morning. A witness warned that appearances can be deceiving:

“The witnesses did not see is what happened under the jumpsuit and sheet. We know from scientific studies that rapid administration of a high dose of pentobarbital is excruciatingly painful. Pulmonary edema develops in seconds as the lungs fill with water and one is not able to breathe," Baich told reporters afterward.

Twenty years on death row isn't easy either.