Arizona | Daughter of 2002 murder victim on Hobbs halting executions: It’s ‘traumatizing to my family’

The daughter of 2002 murder victim Ted Price said Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ decision to halt prisoner execution is traumatizing her family as they expected Price’s killer to be executed next month.

“What she’s doing is extremely, emotionally traumatizing to my family,” Brittney Price told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Gaydos and Chad Show on Thursday.

“We’ve waited this long, we’ve been this patient … we didn’t want to go down without a fight because we shouldn’t have to be fighting for something that he (Aaron Gunches) was sentenced to twice and he wants it. He requested it.”

A warrant for the execution of Gunches was issued by the Arizona Supreme Court on March 2, but Hobbs vowed to not carry out the execution pending a review of the death penalty process, which she ordered on Jan. 20 because of the state’s history of executions that were allegedly mishandled.

“I don’t understand why she had to wait for the Supreme Court to grant it. I don’t know why she didn’t make this announcement before. Did she really have to wait until my aunt Karen, my family and I got the answer we wanted and then kicked us in the stomach, really, within 24 hours?” Price asked.

On Wednesday, the state’s highest court said that Hobbs is not obligated to carry out the execution warrant, which had been set for April 6. The ruling followed a motion filed by a lawyer for Karen Price, whose brother was the victim in Gunches’ case, asking that the governor be ordered to carry out the execution.

“I feel like the last three months have been the most excruciating on my family and I, instead of the last 20 years. It’s been a very back and forth roller coaster and it’s just been very emotionally all over the place,” Price said.

“Because now I feel like with the governor putting executions on hold, we’re going to be back here when she’s not the governor anymore if nothing happens and if we can’t get what we want.”

Arizona carried out three executions last year after a nearly 8-year hiatus which surfaced from criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining execution drugs.

But since the state began resuming executions, it’s been criticized for taking too long to insert an IV for lethal injection and for denying the Arizona Republic newspaper’s request to witness the last 3 executions.

Brittney said the execution of Gunches wouldn’t equate to closure — she just wants it to be over, in hopes her and her family can begin healing again.

“It’s not so much closure. I feel like my family and I are just done talking about it and the minute the execution is processed, he’s just gone. This just ends. It doesn’t have to be brought up a year or 2 from now,” Price said.

“My dad was a fun guy. My brother and I didn’t really get to have a childhood with him, so we were looking forward to making up that time as adults, and that was taken from us the day he took my father’s life.”

Source: KTAR News, Staff, March 24, 2023

_____________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW US ON:

TELEGRAM

TWITTER

CONTACT: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again. Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams. Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement. “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

Utah | Ralph Menzies dies on death row less than 3 months after his execution was called off

Judge was set to consider arguments in December about Menzies’ mental fitness Ralph Menzies, who spent more than 3 decades on Utah’s death row for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has died. Menzies, 67, died of “presumed natural causes at a local hospital” Wednesday afternoon, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker’s son, said Menzies’ death “was a complete surprise.” “First off, I’d say that I’m numb. And second off, I would say, grateful,” Hunsaker told Utah News Dispatch. “I’m grateful that my family does not have to endure this for the holidays.”

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.

Iran carries out public hanging of "double-rapist"

Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man after convicting him of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary's official outlet Mizan Online reported. Mizan cited the head of the provincial judiciary, Mohammad Akbari, as saying the ruling had been 'confirmed and enforced after precise review by the Supreme Court'. The provincial authority said the man had 'deceived two women and committed rape by force and coercion', adding that he used 'intimidation and threats' to instil fear of reputational harm in the victims.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog