The Arizona Supreme Court denied the Maricopa County Attorney and the crime victim’s motion to extend the execution warrant for Aaron Gunches.

The order from the high court coupled with the expiration of Gunches’ warrant at 11:59 p.m. tonight left the Maricopa County Superior Court judge overseeing a separate case filed by the county attorney and the crime victims questioning “what can this court do about it?”

On Friday, the county attorney and the victims’ attorneys filed a motion for an extension of Gunches’ execution warrant with the Arizona Supreme Court and a complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court.

The complaint asked for orders to compel Gov. Katie Hobbs and Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry Ryan Thornell to carry out Gunches’ sentence and to prohibit Hobbs from granting a “de facto reprieve” by continuing the pause on executions.

In a hearing today, Judge Frank Moskowitz pressed attorneys for the victims and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for relief that did not hinge on the warrant for Gunches.

Ryan Green, attorney for Brittany Kay, daughter of Gunches’ victim Ted Price, pushed for an evidentiary hearing on whether the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry was truly unequipped and unprepared to carry out the execution.

The factual dispute arose from conflicting declarations submitted by Thornell and former deputy director Frank Strada in briefings at the Arizona Supreme Court.

Thornell said he could not locate information on execution teams, the pharmacist supplying the drugs and used the lack of documentation as basis to say the department could not carry out an execution by April 6.

In a press conference Wednesday, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Strada “paints a very different picture,” and contradicts Thornell’s assertion that he could not locate any documentation on the most recent executions, or the source of the execution drugs.

Strada said he left the documentation on the premises when he left office in January and named employees still with the department who would be able to track it down.

Green said, “if it’s not true that the department of corrections can’t do an execution, it lays the groundwork for us to seek that the laws be faithfully executed. He also said they could seek relief enjoining the governor and ADCRR from ceasing preparations for executions.

“How do I tell them they need to prepare for a death penalty without a warrant?” Moskowitz said.

He also noted the court does not hold evidentiary hearings “just to find things out,” and said his decision would ultimately only be advisory.

“I hear a lot of ‘whens’ and ‘ifs’” he said. “I don’t want to litigate a case on whens and ifs. I’m only supposed to litigate cases based on here and now.”

Attorney for Thornell, Alexander Samuels, said the fact that Gunches’ warrant had lapsed made his case “look exactly like” other death row inmates’ cases after midnight tonight.

Samuels also said the lapse of the warrant and pause on executions in no way meant a warrant would not be sought at some point. He did note the circumstances of the case, citing the sweeping changes in administration across the board.

Hobbs counsel Bo Dul made a statement expressing empathy for the victims but said they could not allow the “unprecedented encroachment” on executive powers and duties to go forward.

Attorneys for the victims and county attorney then pivoted to their claim that Hobbs granted a “de facto reprieve” by pausing executions.

Moskowitz said that was the only conceivable claim with which he could rule on, but he said he did not have nearly enough in front of him.

He ordered briefing from all parties on the justiciability and the relief and rulings the court could provide.

Moskowitz also said he was “skeptical” and said he was tempted to dismiss the case immediately. But because it was a “serious matter,” with “constitutional concerns,” he set a briefing schedule for the parties, with the first brief due from the county and the victims on April 20, and responses from the state and Gunches due by May 11. He also set oral argument for June 23.