Host and attorney Evelyn Lopez is joined by two guests Shannon McMinimee and Rachel Graves (who are also attorneys!) to discuss the October 11, 2018, Washington Supreme Court decision in State v. Gregory that invalidated the death penalty in our state. So what happened? And what comes next?
Links
- DeathPenaltyInfo.org
- DOC.WA.GOV
- The court’s opinion (PDF)
- The Seattle Times coverage
- The Atlantic’s coverage
- The New York Times coverage
- The Washington Post’s coverage
- USA Today’s coverage
- Channel 253 membership
From the text of the case. In State v. Gregory, the Supreme Court held: “Washington’s death penalty laws have been declared unconstitutional not once, not twice, but three times. None of these prior decisions held that the death penalty is per se unconstitutional, nor do we. The death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner. While this particular case provides an opportunity to specifically address racial disproportionality, the underlying issues that underpin our holding are rooted in the arbitrary manner in which the death penalty is generally administered. As noted by appellant, 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. The death penalty, as administered in our state, fails to serve any legitimate penological goal; thus, it violates article I, section 14 of our state constitution.