| ABC News | - |
Gov.
Jay Inslee said Tuesday he was suspending the use of the death penalty
in Washington state for as long as he's in office, announcing a move
that he hopes will enable officials to "join a growing national
conversation about capital punishment.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee suspends use of death penalty, says "unequally ...
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Suspends Death Penalty
Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday he was suspending the use of the death
penalty in Washington state for as long as he's in office, announcing a
move that he hopes will enable officials to "join a growing national
conversation about capital punishment."
The first-term Democrat said he came to the decision after months of
review, meetings with victims' families, prosecutors and law
enforcement.
"There have been too many doubts raised about capital punishment, there
are too many flaws in this system today," Inslee said at a news
conference. "There is too much at stake to accept an imperfect system."
Inslee's action is the latest of several state moves on the death penalty in recent years.
In Maryland, lawmakers last year did away with the death penalty,
becoming the 18th state to do so and the sixth in six years. Colorado's
governor last year decided to indefinitely stay an execution, saying he
had concerns about the fairness of the system and would be unlikely to
allow the delayed case to move forward while he was in office. And
Oregon's governor in 2011 issued a moratorium similar to what is now in
effect in Washington state.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information
Center, said the moves away from the death penalty show that support for
capital punishment is waning. "The death penalty is being used less,"
he said.
Washington state hasn't executed an inmate in more than three years.
There have been seven inmates executed this year in the U.S., according
to the Washington D.C.-based criminal justice nonprofit.
In Olympia, legislative efforts to get rid of the death penalty have
received public hearings in recent years, but they've never gained
political traction. Inslee said he would support a permanent ban from
lawmakers.
Inslee, who was elected in 2012, said Tuesday that executions are
"unequally applied" in the state, "sometimes dependent on the size of
the county's budget." He also said death penalty cases can take years to
wind through the legal system and represent a drag on state and local
budgets.
He said the system "does not deter crime, costs citizens millions of
dollars more than life in prison without parole," is "uncertain in its
application" and "exposes families to multiple decades of uncertainty."
Inslee's moratorium means that if a death penalty case comes to his
desk, he will issue a reprieve. Reprieves aren't pardons and don't
commute the sentences of those condemned to death. Under Inslee's
system, death row inmates will remain in prison rather than face
execution.
"During my term, we will not be executing people," said Inslee. But "nobody is getting out of prison, period."
Rep. Reuven Carlyle, a Seattle Democrat who has introduced bills to get
rid of the death penalty, said Inslee's action provides a "profound
shift" in momentum for future attempts.
"He has opened a legitimate conversation that gives the Legislature the
ability to not only bring legislation forward in the coming years, but
to step up and engage the public in that conversation," he said.
There have been 78 inmates, all men, put to death in Washington state
since 1904. Since a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court decision cleared the way for
the resumption of executions by states, 1,366 people have been put to
death in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
In Washington state, nine men are currently on death row. The state
Supreme Court last month rejected a petition for release from Jonathan
Lee Gentry, sentenced to death for the murder of a 12-year-old girl in
1988. Gentry could have been the first execution in the state since
September 2010.
Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler of Ritzville said he thought Inslee's move was "out of touch."
He noted that lawmakers have previously rejected opportunities to pass
such measures, "because the public and Legislature support keeping that
tool."
Leola Peden, whose daughter was raped and killed in Tacoma in 1996, was
outraged at the decision. The man convicted in her daughter's death,
Allen Eugene Gregory, is on death row. Peden, 78, said Inslee hadn't
spoken with her before announcing the new policy. "He's absolutely
wrong," Peden said.
"I don't feel that my family and my grandchildren and my great
grandchildren should clothe and feed" Gregory, she said, "and take care
of all his health needs and dental care for the rest of his life. Where
is the justice in that?"
Reaction from county prosecutors was mixed. Dan Satterberg, the elected
prosecutor in King County, which includes Seattle, said the moratorium
"is likely to cause more delay, expense and uncertainty."
"A moratorium alone will not resolve the issues raised by the governor,"
Satterberg said in a written statement. He said there should be an
informed public debate before the state makes changes.
Kitsap County Prosecutor Russell Hauge called the death penalty "an
extremely ineffective tool." But he noted that the moratorium didn't
change state law, which obligates county prosecutors to seek the death
penalty when circumstances warrant. "The problem is," he said, "the
law's still on the books."
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AP writers Gene Johnson and Phuong Le contributed from Seattle. Follow Rachel La Corte at http://www.twitter.com/RachelAPOly
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