Key keywords: Arizona execution 2024, death penalty in Arizona, couple set on fire murder, horrific premeditated attack, capital punishment United States, death row inmate Aaron Gunches, Arizona Department of Corrections, Maricopa County violent crime The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry confirmed on Wednesday that 52-year-old Aaron Gunches was executed via lethal injection at the state prison in Florence, marking the fourth execution carried out in the state since 2022, when Arizona resumed capital punishment after a nearly eight-year hiatus stemming from legal challenges over its lethal injection protocols. Gunches was convicted in 2019 of the brutal 2015 attack that killed 48-year-old Ted Price and 49-year-old Linda Price, a married couple from Mesa with no prior connection to the offender. Court records show Gunches, who had a decades-long history of violent offenses including aggravated assault, armed robbery and kidnapping, broke into the Prices’ home in the middle of the night, restrained the couple to their bed with zip ties, doused both them and their bedroom with gasoline, and set the residence on fire before fleeing the scene. First responders who arrived to extinguish the blaze found the couple’s remains in the charred bedroom, with forensic evidence confirming they were still alive when the fire was ignited, making the attack one of the most shocking violent crimes prosecuted in Maricopa County in the past 10 years. Over the five years following his conviction, Gunches filed a series of state and federal appeals arguing against his death sentence, citing claims of ineffective legal counsel during his trial and alleged cruel and unusual punishment associated with Arizona’s lethal injection formula. All appeals were rejected by higher courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied a last-minute stay of execution on Wednesday morning just hours before the procedure was scheduled. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who has previously expressed public reservations about the state’s death penalty administration, issued a statement confirming the execution was carried out in full compliance with all state and federal laws, adding that “my priority today is with the loved ones of Ted and Linda Price, who have waited nearly nine years for accountability for the unspeakable harm done to their family.” Members of the Price family released a separate statement following the execution, noting that no legal outcome can bring their lost relatives back, but the ruling brings a long-awaited measure of closure they have been denied since the 2015 attack. The case has also reignited national debates over capital punishment in the U.S., with criminal justice reform advocates arguing the death penalty is disproportionately applied to marginalized defendants and fails to deter violent crime, while supporters of the practice say the severity of Gunches’ offense fully justifies the sentence.