WA lawmaker fights to keep death penalty in state law

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As momentum to get rid of the death penalty builds in the Washington Legislature, a freshman Spokane lawmaker is outspoken in her belief that capital punishment works and should remain on the books.

Republican Representative Jenny Graham ran for office on a platform of public safety and said the state needs to be proactive in protecting people from criminals. Last week, Graham grilled opponents of the death penalty at a House House Public Safety Committee hearing, arguing that replacing it with life without parole was inadequate.

The bill already passed the Senate on a party line vote and is expected to come before the full House this month.

Graham says her sister ran away from home and was missing for six years until Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, named her as one of his victims as part of a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty. Graham says without the threat of capital punishment, there would have been no incentive for Ridgway to give up his victims.

But opponents at the hearing said the death penalty effectively has become unavailable for prosecutors in Washington. Governor Jay Inslee imposed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2014 and said he would not sign a death warrant.

Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that while the death penalty itself is not unconstitutional, its arbitrary and racially biased application makes it unenforceable.  (Spokesman-Review)

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