Yes, Arizona has the death penalty, and it is active. State law authorizes capital punishment for first-degree murder when at least one statutory aggravating factor is proven, and Arizona resumed executions in 2022 after nearly a decade without one. The state has carried out two executions in 2025: Aaron Gunches on March 19 and Richard Djerf on October 17.1Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. Most Recent Executions There are 108 people on Arizona’s death row.2Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. Death Row
Between 2014 and 2022, Arizona carried out no executions. A botched 2014 lethal injection led to a federal stay, and the state later said it could not obtain the drugs it needed. Executions resumed in 2022 with Clarence Dixon, paused again during an independent review of the state’s protocols ordered by Governor Katie Hobbs in early 2023, and restarted in 2025 after the Department of Corrections overhauled training, medical staffing, and drug procurement rules.
What Makes a Murder a Capital Case in Arizona
Only first-degree murder can be a capital offense in Arizona, and even then, prosecutors must prove at least one statutory aggravating factor beyond a reasonable doubt.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-751 – Sentence of Death or Life Imprisonment; Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances; Definition Without an aggravator, the maximum sentence is life or natural life in prison. The defendant must also have been at least eighteen at the time of the crime.
Arizona recognizes ten aggravating factors under ARS 13-751(F). Any one of them, if unanimously found by the jury, makes a defendant eligible for death:
- A prior conviction for an offense carrying a life or death sentence in Arizona.
- A prior conviction for a serious felony, including offenses from the same incident or consolidated for trial.
- Murder for hire, whether the defendant paid or was paid.
- A killing committed in an especially cruel, heinous, or depraved manner.
- A murder committed while the defendant was in custody, on release, or on felony probation.
- Multiple killings during the same criminal episode.
- A victim under fifteen, an unborn child at any stage, or a victim seventy or older.
- Killing an on-duty peace officer the defendant knew or should have known was a peace officer.
- A killing to promote or join a criminal street gang or syndicate.
- A killing to prevent cooperation with law enforcement or testimony, or in retaliation for either.
Who Cannot Be Sentenced to Death
Some defendants are off-limits regardless of the crime. Anyone under eighteen at the time of the offense is ineligible under Roper v. Simmons, and Arizona’s statute directs a life or natural life sentence instead.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-751 – Sentence of Death or Life Imprisonment; Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances; Definition Following Atkins v. Virginia, ARS 13-753 bars execution of intellectually disabled defendants who show significantly below-average intellectual functioning, significant limitations in adaptive behavior, and onset of both before age eighteen.
A prisoner on death row is presumed competent to be executed, but that presumption can be rebutted. If a court finds by clear and convincing evidence that a severe mental disorder renders the prisoner incompetent, the execution is postponed and the prisoner is referred for competency restoration treatment.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Criminal Code 13-4022 – Determining Competency
How a Death Sentence Is Imposed
Arizona uses a split trial. The jury first decides guilt. If the defendant is convicted of first-degree murder and the state has filed notice of intent to seek death, the same jury moves to a penalty proceeding in two stages.
In the aggravation stage, the jury weighs the noticed aggravating factors. Each must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and found unanimously. If none are found, death is off the table and the judge imposes life or natural life.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-752 – Sentences of Death, Life Imprisonment or Natural Life; Imposition; Sentencing Proceedings; Definitions If at least one aggravator is found, the case moves to the penalty stage, where the defense presents mitigating evidence about background, mental health, age, or role in the offense. The jury imposes death only if it concludes that the aggravating circumstances are not outweighed by mitigation substantial enough to warrant leniency.
The jury’s central role comes from Ring v. Arizona, the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Arizona’s earlier judge-only sentencing scheme and held that the Sixth Amendment requires a jury to find every fact necessary for a death sentence.6Supreme Court of the United States. Ring v. Arizona
The distinction between the non-capital sentences matters. Natural life means the defendant will die in prison with no possibility of release. A life sentence allows the defendant to seek commutation from the Board of Executive Clemency after serving at least 25 years, though approval is rare.
How Arizona Carries Out Executions
Lethal injection is the standard method. Arizona uses a one-drug protocol: five grams of pentobarbital administered intravenously in two 2.5-gram syringes separated by saline flushes.7Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. Department Order 710 – Execution Procedures
Lethal gas is still authorized, but only for defendants whose offense was committed before November 23, 1992. Those prisoners may choose between lethal injection and lethal gas at least twenty days before the execution date; if no choice is made, lethal injection is used by default.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Criminal Code 13-757 – Method of Inflicting Death Penalty As pre-1992 cases resolve, that option is dwindling.
Appeals and Clemency
Every death sentence triggers an automatic, independent review by the Arizona Supreme Court, which examines the trial court’s findings on aggravation and mitigation and evaluates whether the sentence was appropriate.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-755 – Death Sentences; Supreme Court Review That review happens whether or not the defendant wants to appeal. After it, defendants can pursue state post-conviction relief and then federal habeas corpus. The full process routinely takes fifteen to twenty years, which is why Arizona’s death row holds people sentenced decades ago.
Executive clemency is the last stop. The Governor cannot grant clemency without a recommendation from the Board of Executive Clemency, and the Board cannot grant it alone. The Board reviews the case in a closed file review, and if it advances the case, the prisoner appears at a hearing where victims’ families and others may testify. A majority vote to recommend clemency sends the case to the Governor for a final decision. There is no appeal from a denial, and neither the Board nor the Governor has to give a reason.10Board of Executive Clemency. FAQ
Death Row Today
Male prisoners under sentence of death are housed at the Rincon Unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson, and female prisoners at the Lumley Unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex in Perryville. All executions take place at the Central Unit in Florence, regardless of where the prisoner has been held.11Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. Death Row Information With two executions carried out in 2025 and warrants moving through the Arizona Supreme Court, the state is working through a backlog it had left largely untouched for close to a decade.