State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday proposed bipartisan legislation to abolish the death penalty in Washington.
In a demonstration of broad, bipartisan support for ending capital punishment in the state, former Attorney General Rob McKenna joined Ferguson at a press conference in Olympia to announce the proposal.
Gov. Jay Inslee and a group of legislators from both political parties and around the state also were at the press conference, including State Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, whose 33rd District includes part of Kent.
“There is no role for capital punishment in a fair, equitable and humane justice system,” Ferguson said in a media release. “The Legislature has evaded a vote on the death penalty for years. The public deserves to know where their representatives stand.”
“The current system is not working,” said McKenna. “There is too much delay, cost and uncertainty around the death penalty, which is why I stand today with Attorney General Ferguson and this bipartisan group of legislators in support of this change.”
Ferguson articulated some of the many reasons for opposition to the death penalty, including:
Moral opposition to the state taking lives in the people’s name
The possibility of executing an innocent person in our imperfect system
The increased cost of seeking death sentences versus life in prison – over $1 million on average in Washington state
The concentration of capital cases in the counties with the most resources to pursue them, and
The ineffectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent.
Sen. Mark Miloscia, R-Federal Way (30th District), is sponsoring the attorney general-request legislation in the Senate. Orwall, D-Des Moines will introduce the companion House bill.
“Over the last four decades, 156 people have been exonerated from death row across the nation,” said Orwall, who also led the way to pass legislation to get compensation for those wrongfully convicted in Washington. “How many more continue waiting for new evidence to prove their innocence, and will they get it before their lives are taken? If we truly want to serve justice, the state should avoid irreversible punishment to individuals who were wrongly convicted and would have otherwise been executed.”
The bill is expected to go to the Senate Law and Justice Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.
In February 2014, Inslee imposed a moratorium on executions in the state, finding that executions in the state are “unequally applied” and “sometimes dependent on the size of the county’s budget.” The governor did not propose legislation to abolish the state’s death penalty, but his moratorium has remained in place since.
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