Louisiana, Arizona end pauses on capital punishment as 3 executions set for March

Three states have scheduled executions in March, including one eyeing a controversial nitrogen gas method in order to carry it out and another state that struggled to insert IVs into three separate inmates during their lethal injections.

Louisiana’s execution of Christopher Sepulvado on March 17 would mark the end of a 15-year break in executions in the state, which plans to use nitrogen gas. Arizona’s execution of Aaron Gunches on March 19 would be the first in the state since 2022, when the state struggled to carry out three executions.

Meanwhile South Carolina is set to execute its fourth inmate since September, when the state reinstated the practice after a 13-year pause.

“The resumption of executions in states which have not killed prisoners in over a decade is a troubling last gasp for the death penalty in the United States,” Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, told USA TODAY on Wednesday. “Killing old men decades after their crimes does not make us safer, nor does it bring back the victims in these cases.” 

Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement Monday that “justice will be dispensed.”

“For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State’s most violent crimes,” he said. “I anticipate the national press will embellish on the feelings and interests of the violent death row murderers, we will continue to advocate for the innocent victims and the loved ones left behind.”

So far this year, the U.S. has executed three inmates, with two more scheduled to die and on Thursday and at least 12 more by the end of the year. Here’s what to know about the newly scheduled executions.

Louisiana ends prohibition on death penalty

A De Soto Parish judge granted a death warrant Tuesday for 81-year-old Christopher Sepulvado to be executed on March 17 for the murder of his 6-year-old stepson in 1993.

Attorney General Liz Murrill told The Associated Press that the state will use nitrogen gas and expects to execute four inmates this year.

The Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor for Death Row inmates and anti-death penalty activist, was a witness to the first nitrogen gas execution in the United States − that of Kenny Eugene Smith on Jan. 25, 2024 − and described it as being “horrific.”

“Kenny was shaking the entire gurney. I had never seen something so violent,” Hood wrote in a column for USA TODAY following the execution of Kenneth Smith. “There was nothing in his body that was calm. Everything was going everywhere all at once, over and over.”

Sepulvado’s attorney, Shawn Nolan, told KTBS-TV that the inmate is in poor health and confined to a wheelchair.

“Chris Sepulvado is a debilitated old man suffering from serious medical ailments,” he said. “There is no conceivable reason why ‘justice’ might be served by executing Chris instead of letting him live out his few remaining days in prison.”

Arizona to restart executions after review

The Arizona State Supreme Court granted a warrant of execution for Aaron Gunches on Tuesday, setting the first execution in the state in more than two years for March 19, reported The Arizona Republic − a part of the USA TODAY Network.

Gunches was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, a former longtime boyfriend of Gunches’ girlfriend. Gunches has advocated for his execution, and the state’s Supreme Court previously granted a death warrant for him in 2023 that was not completed when Democratic state leadership paused executions upon taking office.

Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes suspended capital punishment pending a review of Arizona’s death penalty process because the state struggled to insert IVs for three lethal injection executions in 2022: those of Clarence Dixon, Frank Atwood and Murray Hooper.

Dixon’s attorneys said it took 40 minutes to insert IVs. Dixon’s execution team resorted to inserting an IV line into his femoral vein, which caused him to experience pain and resulted in a “fair amount of blood,” according to Associated Press reporter Paul Davenport, who witnessed the execution.

The execution team for Atwood also struggled to insert IVs, prompting technicians to consider the femoral vein, as well. However, Atwood asked the team to try his arms again, eventually guiding them to insert the line into one of his hands successfully.

During Hooper’s execution, he turned and asked the viewing gallery, “Can you believe this?” as the execution team tried and failed repeatedly to insert IVs into his arms before inserting a catheter into his femoral vein.

Hobbs ended the review process late last year, and Mayes announced she was pursuing the execution of Gunches.

State officials have said there will now be additional members on the execution team, including a phlebotomist. During previous executions, the IV team was sometimes staffed with corrections officers. 

South Carolina to execute fourth person in five months

Meanwhile the South Carolina Supreme Court on Friday scheduled a March 7 execution date for Brad Sigmon for the 2001 murder of a couple and the kidnapping of their daughter, according to the Greenville News − a part of the USA TODAY Network.

Sigmon would be the fourth man executed by the state since September if the execution is completed, following Freddie “Khalil” Owens, Richard Moore and Marion Bowman last month.

Lawyers representing Sigmon, 67, filed a motion last week to stay Sigmon’s executionafter reviewing Moore’s autopsy. 

According to the motion, the previous three men remained alive for 20 minutes after receiving a dose of pentobarbital, and Moore had to be injected a second time.

“This raises grave concerns: that during all three of SCDC’s recent executions, the drugs were either not properly administered, not reliable and effective, or all of the above,” according to the motion.  

USA TODAY reached out to the South Carolina Department of Corrections for a response.