Arizona’s death row holds roughly 113 people condemned for first-degree murder, housed at the Rincon Unit in Tucson for men and the Lumley Unit at Perryville for women, with executions carried out by lethal injection at the Central Unit in Florence. The state resumed executions in 2022 after nearly eight years without one and has put five people to death since.
Population and Recent Executions
As of early 2025, about 113 people are under a sentence of death in Arizona. Men make up the overwhelming majority. The average wait between sentencing and execution runs well past a decade because of the layered appeals every capital case triggers.
From 2014 through early 2022, no one was executed in the state. Difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs and challenges to the execution protocol drove the pause. That ended in 2022 with three executions in seven months: Clarence Dixon in May, Frank Atwood in June, and Murray Hooper in November. Governor Katie Hobbs paused executions in 2023 pending an independent review of the protocol. The review ended in late 2024, and Attorney General Kris Mayes said her office would again seek execution warrants. Aaron Gunches was executed in March 2025 and Richard Djerf in October 2025.1Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. Most Recent Executions
Who Ends Up on Death Row
Only first-degree murder can be punished by death in Arizona. That means an intentional, premeditated killing, a death caused during certain dangerous felonies (sexual assault, kidnapping, armed robbery, arson, burglary), or the killing of a law enforcement officer whose status the defendant knew or should have known.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-1105 – First Degree Murder Classification
A first-degree murder verdict alone is not enough. To make the case capital, prosecutors must prove at least one aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt at a separate sentencing phase.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-751 – Sentence of Death or Life Imprisonment Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances The statute lists factors including a prior conviction carrying life or death, murder for hire, an especially cruel or depraved killing, a killing while the defendant was in custody or on release, multiple homicides in one episode, a victim under fifteen or seventy or older or an unborn child, the killing of an on-duty peace officer, a gang-related motive, and killing to intimidate or retaliate against a witness.
Once at least one aggravator is proven, the jury weighs it against any mitigating evidence the defense offers. Mitigation can cover the defendant’s background, mental health, childhood abuse, age, or anything else pointing toward a lesser sentence. If the jury finds the mitigation is not substantial enough to call for leniency, the sentence is death. If not, the defendant receives life imprisonment.
Who Cannot Be Sentenced to Death
Federal constitutional rulings block Arizona from executing three categories of people, no matter how serious the crime.
Anyone whose crime was committed before age eighteen is off-limits. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Roper v. Simmons (2005) that executing juvenile offenders violates the Eighth Amendment.4Justia Law. Roper v Simmons 543 US 551 People with intellectual disabilities are also exempt under Atkins v. Virginia (2002); later decisions require states to use current medical standards rather than a rigid IQ cutoff. And a person who cannot understand the nature of their punishment or the reason for it cannot be executed while incompetent, under Ford v. Wainwright (1986). If competency is later restored, the state may proceed.
Arizona’s own statute mirrors the juvenile rule by limiting the vulnerable-victim aggravator to defendants who were adults at the time of the offense or were tried as adults.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-751 – Sentence of Death or Life Imprisonment Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances
Where Death Row Inmates Are Held
Men sentenced to death are housed at the Rincon Unit inside the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson. The unit has 200 close-custody beds set aside for death row. Women are held separately at the Lumley Unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville, near Goodyear.6Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. Death Row Information Executions themselves happen at the Central Unit in Florence, and condemned inmates are transferred there in advance of a scheduled date.
Conditions are more restrictive than general population, but not the round-the-clock isolation the term “death row” often implies. Inmates at Rincon get access to interactive programming and up to ten hours a day of yard recreation.6Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. Death Row Information Visitation, phone access, and personal property are governed by Department of Corrections rules and depend on custody classification and behavior. Educational and vocational programming is more limited than in general population.
How Executions Are Carried Out
Lethal injection is the default method. Arizona’s constitution and statute require it for anyone sentenced to death for a crime committed on or after November 23, 1992.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-757 – Method of Infliction of Sentence of Death The current protocol uses a single drug, pentobarbital, a barbiturate that causes deep unconsciousness followed by cardiac arrest. Earlier two- and three-drug combinations drew legal challenges and contributed to the eight-year gap in executions.
One exception remains. An inmate whose crime was committed before November 23, 1992, can choose lethal gas instead of injection by making the choice in writing at least twenty days before the scheduled date. If no choice is made, injection applies by default.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-757 – Method of Infliction of Sentence of Death The number of inmates still eligible for that choice shrinks each year.
Appeals, Warrants, and Clemency
Every death sentence in Arizona goes through automatic review by the Arizona Supreme Court, whether the defendant wants to appeal or not. The court independently examines the aggravating and mitigating findings and whether the death sentence was appropriate on the facts.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-755 – Death Sentences Supreme Court Review
After direct appeal, defendants can file for post-conviction relief in state court, raising issues like ineffective assistance of counsel or newly discovered evidence. Federal habeas corpus review follows if state remedies fail, letting a federal court consider whether the state proceedings violated constitutional rights. These overlapping tracks are the main reason capital cases take fifteen or twenty years to resolve.
An execution requires a warrant issued by the Arizona Supreme Court, and the warrant does not wait for every possible appeal to end. The court issues it after direct appeal and the first round of post-conviction proceedings conclude.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-759 – Death Warrant Return Federal habeas and successive state petitions often continue after the warrant issues, and courts can stay the execution while those play out. The warrant sets an execution date thirty-five days out, and the court can extend that by up to sixty days if needed.10New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure – Rule 31.23 Warrant of Execution In the final twenty-four hours, the inmate is placed in an observation cell for continuous monitoring and given a final meal within the department’s budgetary limits.
The last administrative check is the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency. The board holds a hearing at which defense attorneys, prosecutors, and victims’ families can testify. It may then recommend that the governor grant a reprieve, which delays the execution, or a commutation, which reduces the sentence to life imprisonment.11Board of Executive Clemency. About The governor cannot act without a board recommendation. If the board unanimously recommends commutation and the governor takes no action within ninety days, the commutation takes effect automatically.12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 31-402 – Powers of Board Powers and Duties of Governor Clemency grants in Arizona capital cases are rare.