10-11-2018, 08:23 PM
Washington State Abolishes Death Penalty
Washington's Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty today, ruling that it had been used in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner.
Washington has had a moratorium on executions since 2014, but the ruling makes it the 20th state to do away with capital punishment.
The court unanimously converted the sentences of the eight people on death row to life in prison, though the justices differed mildly in their reasoning.
"The use of the death penalty is unequally applied - sometimes by where the crime took place, or the county of residence, or the available budgetary resources at any given point in time, or the race of the defendant," Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote in the lead opinion. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-...ry-unfair/
Washington's Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty today, ruling that it had been used in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner.
Washington has had a moratorium on executions since 2014, but the ruling makes it the 20th state to do away with capital punishment.
The court unanimously converted the sentences of the eight people on death row to life in prison, though the justices differed mildly in their reasoning.
"The use of the death penalty is unequally applied - sometimes by where the crime took place, or the county of residence, or the available budgetary resources at any given point in time, or the race of the defendant," Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote in the lead opinion. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-...ry-unfair/