Associated Press
OLYMPIA — Former state Supreme Court justice Robert Utter, who served on the high court for 23 years until his opposition of the death penalty led to his resignation, has died at age 84.
The Administrative Office of the Courts announced Thursday that Utter had died at his Olympia home Wednesday night. He had been in poor health and receiving hospice care, a release by the courts said.
Utter, who was elected to the King County Superior Court in 1964, was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1968 by then-Gov. Dan Evans. He was then appointed by Evans to the state Supreme Court in 1971 when a vacancy arose.
Utter resigned from the high court in 1995 in protest of the court’s handling of death penalty cases.
Utter is survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren.
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