Capital punishment in Washington
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Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in the U.S. state of Washington. A total of 109 executions have been carried out in the state and its predecessor territories since 1849. All but two were by hanging.
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[edit] History
The first hangings occurred on January 5, 1849 when Cussas and Quallahworst, two Native Americans, were hanged for murder. Executions are rarely carried out in the state — the most executions in one year was five in 1939, and there was an average of less than one hanging per year between 1849 and 1963.
The death penalty was abolished in 1913, then reinstated in 1919. The statute would remain unchanged until 1975, when it was again abolished. A referendum in the same year saw it reinstated for a second time as the mandatory penalty for aggravated murder in the first degree. Supreme Court of the United States rulings in Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, , , meant that such a law was unconstitutional and the statute was modified to give detailed procedures for imposing the death penalty.
This new law was itself found to be unconstitutional by the Washington Supreme Court, as a person who had pled not guilty could be sentenced to death, while someone who pled guilty would receive a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The current law was passed in 1981 to correct these constitutional defects.
In May 2003, the Washington Death Penalty Assistance Center, an anti-death penalty group, released a report, which showed that of the 10 individuals on death row at the time, nine cases involved a white victim. In the case of African American defendants, all those sentenced to death, were sentenced by all-white juries. However, the death sentence statistics are representative of Washington State demographics. 85% of Washingtonians are white, and only 3.5% are black.
[edit] Method
Death Row for males is located at Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, which is also the site of executions. Females are housed at Washington Corrections Center for Women while awaiting execution.
Since June 6, 1996 inmates have been able to choose if their execution will be carried out by lethal injection or hanging. If the person makes no decision, the default method is lethal injection. It should also be noted that Washington is the only state with an active gallows (Delaware dismantled theirs in 2003).
According to the Revised Code of Washington § 10.95.180, executions in Washington:[1]
- "…shall be inflicted by intravenous injection of a substance or substances in a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death and until the defendant is dead, or, at the election of the defendant, by hanging by the neck until the defendant is dead."
[edit] Capital offenses
The following are considered aggravating circumstances for aggravated first degree murder:[2]
- murder of an on-duty law enforcement officer, corrections officer, or firefighter
- murder by a prisoner
- contract killing
- murder resulting from the discharge of a firearm from or near a motor vehicle
- murder while committing robbery, rape, burglary, kidnapping, arson
- murder of more than one person
- murder of a news reporter in order to obstruct or hinder
- murder of a person who held a restraining order against the assailant
- murder of a person with whom the murderer had a "family or household members"
- murder in order to obtain or maintain membership or to advance their position in the hierarchy of an organization, association, gang or identifiable group
- murder of any judge, juror, witness, attorney, or court officer; that was related to the exercise of official duties performed or to be performed by the victim
Other offenses which may call upon the death penalty include:
[edit] Executions since 1976
A total of four individuals have been executed by the state of Washington since 1976. All were convicted of murder.
| Executed person | Date of execution | Method | Victims | Under Governor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westley Allan Dodd | 5 January 1993 | hanging | Cole Neer, William Neer, and Lee Islei. | Booth Gardner |
| 2 | Charles Campbell | 27 May 1994 | hanging | Renae Wicklund, Shannah Wicklund, and Barbara Hendrickson. | Mike Lowry |
| 3 | Jeremy Vargas Sagastegui | 13 October 1998 | lethal injection | Kievan Sarbacher, Melissa Sarbacher, and Lisa Vera Acevado. | Gary Locke |
| 4 | James Homer Elledge | 28 August 2001 | lethal injection | Eloise Jane Fitzner. | Gary Locke |
As of January 31, 2007, there were seven individuals on Washington's death row, all of them men.[1]
