Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state’s death penalty statute and commuted the sentences of all 8 men who were on death row. The court ruled that the law was unconstitutional “because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.”
Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst, writing for the court’s majority, cited a recent crime analysis produced by University of Washington sociologists that found significant variations across counties in the application of the death penalty, and that also found black offenders were four times more likely to receive a death sentence in the state than their white peers. Due to these findings, the court held that the death penalty lacked fundamental fairness and thereby violated the state’s constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
With Thursday’s ruling, Washington becomes the 20th state to overturn or abolish death as a legal punishment. Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who previously supported the death penalty before issuing a moratorium on executions in the state in 2014, said he expects this ruling to end the debate over capital punishment in the state once and for all.
“This is a full and final decision by the state Supreme Court, and absent any legislative action, there will be no more capital punishment in the state of Washington,” said Inslee. He also said that he would veto any bill seeking to resurrect the death penalty.
