Washington Senate passes death penalty repeal bill
OLYMPIA — A measure that would repeal the state’s death penalty law has passed the Senate for the third time in three years, with supporters of the bill hoping that new leadership in the House means the Legislature will make permanent a 2018 state Supreme Court ruling that struck down capital punishment as arbitrary and racially biased.
With a 28-18 vote Friday, the Senate approved the measure that would remove capital punishment as a sentencing option for aggravated murder and mandating instead a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.
The bill now heads to the House for consideration, where it has stalled in previous years. Gov. Jay Inslee has said he will sign it if it makes it to his desk. New Democratic House Speaker Laurie Jinkins has said she personally supports the bill but that the caucus has not yet discussed it.
Before the 2018 ruling, execution was already rare in Washington, and a governor-imposed moratorium has blocked its use since 2014. But the court’s decision eliminated it entirely, converting the sentences for the state’s eight death row inmates to life in prison without release.
https://www.heraldnet.com/northwest/washington-senate-passes-death-penalty-repeal-bill-2/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=925410b34d-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-925410b34d-228635337
= new reply since forum marked as read
