State of Arizona, Appellee v. Aaron Brian Gunches, Appellant

Summary

The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed Gunches’s death sentence after concluding that he knowingly and voluntarily waived counsel and mitigation during the penalty-phase retrial. The court also held that Gunches could not belatedly and collaterally challenge the prior conviction used as the sole eligibility aggravator, and that the trial court’s response to the jury’s question and the prosecutor’s closing argument did not constitute fundamental error. The court independently reviewed the aggravating circumstance and death sentence for abuse of discretion and found reasonable evidentiary support. No separate opinions were issued.