Arizona voters are moving closer to deciding whether people sentenced to death will be executed by the existing lethal injection procedure or by firing squad.
The state House has given preliminary approval to a measure proposed by a consultant hired by Gov. Katie Hobbs, who studied the state’s experience with lethal injection but was sacked by Hobbs before completing his report.
If formally approved by parliamentarians in both the House and Senate, voters would be asked next year to amend the constitution to define the use of firing squads for drug usage, a practice they approved in 1992.
Any executions scheduled before then, including Aaron Gunches’ execution on March 19, will be unaffected by the move. Gunches waived further appeals and requested to be executed.
HCR 2024, which received initial approval following a state House debate this week, would go into force if both the Senate and the House formally vote for it and voters agree to modify the constitution to impose a firing squad instead of injecting drugs.
Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, referenced retired federal magistrate judge David Duncan, whom Hobbs recruited in 2023 to examine Arizona’s death sentence implementation. Duncan suggested that converting to a firing squad was a more merciful method of carrying out executions, which was shared by others.
Among them is U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama and stated in a 2017 dissent that firing squads solve the concerns associated with fatal injections by providing a certain, speedy death.
In addition to being near-instant, death by shooting may also be rather painless,” she argued in the dissent in a case where a prisoner preferred that approach over lethal injection.
During the House discussion, Kolodin said that the Democratic governor should have listened to Duncan, “her hand-picked expert.”
But instead of taking his recommendation seriously and asking this body to pass legislation to change our state’s method of execution to the firing squad, as the taxpayer-funded independent review recommended, she opted to terminate that independent expert,” Kolodin added. “Expert analysis warrants serious consideration,” Kolodin stated.
He claimed that utilizing a shooting squad offers various advantages over the state’s current practice.
These include being significantly less expensive since it will result in fewer legal challenges and because bullets are far less costly than the pharmaceuticals that the state must seek out and acquire. Major drug manufacturers refuse to supply their products for executions.
“It is also faster, has a lower failure rate, and is by far the most humane and expedient way to dispatch the condemned,” Kolodin said.
Wednesday’s debate about how to appropriately execute a convicted prisoner came only minutes after the House considered a GOP-sponsored plan to tighten restrictions on the use of abortion-inducing medicines. The move came despite a recent voter-approved amendment to the state constitution that enshrines the right to abortion.
Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, D-Tucson, brought attention to the obvious discrepancy, accusing the majority of Republicans of hypocrisy.
“I find it interesting that we just finished a few bills ago hearing about the sanctity of life and that we believe in life, we are here for life, and thou shall not kill,” she added.
“And then the same party proposes a bill to use a firing squad to kill people,” Gutierrez concluded. “It doesn’t make any sense. “It would be embarrassing for Arizona.”
She described the legislation as a waste of time that could have been better spent on matters such as health care, affordable housing, and student safety.
Rep. Nick Kupper, R-Surprise, responded to Gutierrez, saying he opposes abortion and the death sentence but supports Kolodin’s idea.
“I don’t believe that if I’m going to be pro-life, I can be pro-death in that regard,” according to him.
“However, to the point of this bill, the people of Arizona decided we should have the death penalty,” Kupper said. “A firing squad is a far more humane approach. And I believe we should do things in the most humanitarian way possible.
Kolodin, responding to a query from a fellow Republican, stated that fatal injections are far more expensive than firing squads.
The last time the state ordered lethal injection medications, it spent $1.5 million to purchase enough for several executions, although the shelf life is uncertain. While his measure would not specify shooting squad guidelines, he claims they often have five to eight individuals, each firing a weapon with ammo costing between 50 cents and $1 per bullet.
“So we know that it is a fairly inexpensive method compared to lethal injection,” he explained.
Hobbs appointed Duncan as a special “death penalty commissioner” shortly after taking office in January 2023, and she issued an executive order requiring a review of historical issues with Arizona executions, as well as recommendations for how to avoid them in the future.
Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, formally halted all executions while Duncan performed his investigation.
Duncan told Capitol Media Services in an interview shortly after being fired by Hobbs last November that he found that lethal injection was not a humane way to kill someone.
“She asked me to look into what went wrong with the previous injections that led to widespread belief that they were botched,” Duncan said, questioning whether fatal injections can be administered safely, adding that it appears the governor did not want to hear that message.
Arizona paused executions for eight years after convict Joseph Wood died after nearly two hours and multiple injections of a two-drug combo in July 2014. When they started in 2022, the year before Hobbs entered office, the state had switched to a single-drug approach with pentobarbital. Three men were executed in 2022.
Duncan found that voters’ 1992 legalization of fatal injections was far from “humane.” That is now the default procedure, but individuals convicted before that date can still choose to die in the state’s gas chamber.
Duncan stated that the state-sanctioned secrecy around executions makes matters worse.
“She asked me to increase transparency,” he told Capitol Media Services the day after receiving a call from the governor’s office last year informing him that his services were no longer required.
“And I prepared a report that I believed would accomplish that,” Duncan explained. “It’s ironic that a report intended to increase transparency was terminated on the eve of its release.”
Shortly after Duncan was sacked, Hobbs stated that the state was preparing to resume executions using deadly pharmaceuticals under revised protocols devised by the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry. Mayes then obtained a warrant from the Arizona Supreme Court to execute Gunches.
In recent years, several states have added the firing squad to their list of permissible execution methods, frequently due to difficulties acquiring the necessary medications or questions about their effectiveness.
According to The Associated Press, a South Carolina man will become the first person to die by firing squad in the United States in 15 years because of a new state law that allows offenders to choose between lethal injection, a firing squad, or the electric chair. Brad Sigmon, 67, will be executed on March 7 for killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in 2001.
The Kolodin-backed bill is awaiting a formal House vote before being sent to the Senate for consideration. If approved there, it will appear on the November 2026 ballot with no action required from Hobbs. Voters will then have the final say.