(Originally published in CNS News.)
In November 2002, Ted Price was kidnapped, shot, and murdered. His body was dumped in the desert near Mesa. Aaron Gunches was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder. However, due to the appeals process, the case spent more than two decades working its way through the system.
Price’s family waited all that time, but then the Arizona Supreme Court scheduled the execution for April 6. The Price family thought they would finally have justice.
Then the following day Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs said she would not grant an execution warrant, despite the Supreme Court’s and other courts rulings.
This is another example of Democrats caring more for the criminals than the victims of their crimes.
Hobbs’ stated reason is that she wants to complete a review of the state’s death penalty protocols. However, one of the planks of her election platform was to end the death penalty in Arizona.
“Hobbs has said executions will not be carried out until Arizonans can be confident the state isn’t violating the law,” Fox News reported. “She maintains that while the court authorized Gunches’ execution, its order doesn’t require the state to carry it out.”
Karen Price, Ted Price’s sister, and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell have been seeking relief from the Supreme Court, saying Hobbs doesn’t have the legal authority to disregard the court’s order.
“Not only has our family been victimized by inmate Gunches and the emotional aftermath of Ted’s murder, we are now being victimized by the governor’s failure to recognize and uphold our constitutional rights to justice and finality,” Price said.
And that’s what this comes down to. It is not a death penalty case where Gunches’ innocence is in question. This is yet another case of Democrat politicians selectively enforcing the law. They will enforce those laws they agree with and ignore the ones they don’t.
“If the state supreme court had not issued a warrant of execution, she could’ve chosen to pause. But they issued it. She attempts to pause after, so that’s the issue,” Karen Price said.
Court after court upheld the conviction and penalty. That was their job. Now it is Hobbs’ job to allow that penalty to be carried out. To do otherwise is a dereliction of her duty to the people whom she supposedly serves.
“Nothing in the Constitution or laws of Arizona or the warrant gives the governor discretion to ignore the warrant and grant what essentially constitutes a temporary reprieve from the death penalty,” Nicholas Klingerman, an attorney representing Mitchell, wrote.
While it should be cut and dried, it has become muddy. Until things get sorted out, Hobbs is allowing the victims of Gunches’ criminal action to live in a pain she doesn’t want Gunches’ himself to suffer.
That is how liberal Democrats think. It is a belief that has given comfort to criminals in this country and allowed crime to flourish. Democrat mayors of large cities and governors of blue states flail about, deflecting blame from themselves and searching for a way to stop crime that doesn’t actually involve stopping criminals.
