Committee backs bill and voter referral letting people sentenced to death choose firing squad, gas or lethal injection

A legislative committee recommended moving forward with bills that would expand Arizona’s authorized execution methods to let people sentenced to death choose among firing squad, lethal injection or lethal gas and that would send the question to voters.

Sponsor Senator Payne said the bills respond to a history of problematic executions in the state, including the 2024 Joseph Wood case. "We had Joseph Wood in 2024 who lay on the gurney for over 2 hours after they injected the drugs... it was a very bad thing," the sponsor said, arguing the measure gives inmates a choice of method and could avoid future operational failures.

Opponents, including law professor and death-penalty defense advocate Dale Baiche, urged a no vote, saying adding methods would multiply constitutional and operational problems and invite litigation. "These methods do not solve existing problems with the execution protocols; they multiply them," Baiche testified, warning that firing squads and lethal gas have histories of visible distress and that staff who must carry out executions can suffer prolonged psychological harm.

Court and corrections witnesses, including Courtney Quinones Machado, a former corrections officer and death-row chaplain, told the committee Arizona lacks staffing and clear rules about who would carry out firing-squad or gas executions and that requiring staff participation risks coercion and trauma. "Arizona is not prepared to support correctional staff who are going to be traumatized by having to carry out this action," Machado said.

After discussion and several members’ explanations of vote, the committee gave SB 17-51 a do-pass recommendation and also gave SCR 1049 (the voter referral) a do-pass recommendation. Both votes were recorded as a 6-2 committee majority in favor with one absent and one member recorded as present in lieu of a definitive yes/no roll call.

What comes next: SCR 1049 would place the execution-method question before voters if the Legislature and eventual enactment pathways align; votes in the full Legislature and potential litigation would shape final outcomes.