Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arizona. 95 executions have been carried out since Arizona became a state in 1914 and there are currently 111 people on death row. In November 2024, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that the state would resume executions in 2025 after a 2-year pause.
History
Arizona abolished the death penalty for murder by popular vote in 1916, but reinstated it, again by popular vote, in 1918.
No executions occurred between 1962 and the national moratorium in 1972. Executions resumed in 1992.
In 2000, then-attorney general Janet Napolitano created a Capital Case Commission to study the State's capital punishment laws. The Commission issued a report in 2002, proposing changes to the "public defender’s office for capital cases, adjustments to laws and court rules, and minimum competency requirements."[1]
In 2007, due to the high number of pending capital cases after the election of Andrew Thomas as Maricopa County Attorney, Arizona Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor called for a review of the Death Penalty. The Arizona Supreme Court created the Capital Case Task Force.[2] The Court then established a Capital Case Oversight Committee.[3]
The Committee studies "issues affecting the administration of capital cases and propose recommendations to improve the judicial administration of these cases."[4]
On January 23, 2023, newly inaugurated governor Katie Hobbs ordered a review of death penalty protocols and in light of that, newly inaugurated attorney general Kris Mayes issued a hold on any executions in the state.[7] Hobbs appointed retired Magistrate Judge David Duncan as the reviewer.[8] However, in November 2024 Hobbs announced that she had canceled Judge Duncan's review after his updates had gone "far afield of her request to review the protocols and procedures" and her concerns were addressed in a separate report by the department of corrections.[9]
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a retrial happens before another jury. If the second jury is also deadlocked, a life sentence is issued.[11]
The Governor of Arizona can grant clemency only with advice and consent of the five-member Arizona Board of Executive Clemency.[12]
Hanging of Zack Booth in Globe, Arizona Territory 1905
Arizona has used hanging, lethal gas, and lethal injection as its execution methods.
From Statehood until 1931, the primary execution method was hanging. Nineteen executions by hanging occurred between April 16, 1920 and June 20, 1931. The first gas execution occurred in 1934.[14]
After the controversial and much-publicized 1992 execution of Donald Eugene Harding, who took 10 and 1/2 minutes to die, the voters changed the method to lethal injection.[16] However, inmates convicted for capital crimes committed prior to November 23, 1992 may choose gas inhalation instead.[17][18] The last gas execution was Walter LaGrand on March 3, 1999.
Until 2010, Arizona used sodium thiopental as the primary drug in its execution protocol until the drug stopped being commercially available and the state explored using midazolam.[23]
In 2011, the state was found to be lawfully buying execution drugs from Dream Pharma, a pharmaceutical company operating out of a driving school in west London, UK.[24]
In 2015, Arizona illegally tried to import sodium thiopental from India, but the shipment was seized by federal officials at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport.[25]
In October 2019, Arizona's department of corrections paid $1.5m to a confidential source for 1,000 1g vials of pentobarbital.[26] In a 2024 episode of Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver claimed that Arizona had acquired the drugs from the Connecticut chemical company Absolute Standards.[27]
Notable capital cases
Ring v. Arizona, requiring a jury to find aggravating circumstances necessary for imposition of the death penalty. Overruling Walton v. Arizona.
