OLYMPIA – The state Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the death sentence for a murderer, sending the case back to Pierce County for a new penalty trial.
The 8-1 ruling came in a case involving Cecil Emile Davis, who was convicted in 1998 of the premeditated murder of Yoshiko Couch. Davis repeatedly raped the 65-year-old Couch in her home on Jan. 25, 1997, and killed her by placing her in a bathtub and suffocating her with a towel soaked in a household solvent. He also used a steel-wool cleaning pad to scrub evidence from her body, tearing off pieces of skin.
The jury found aggravating circumstances of rape, robbery and burglary that made him eligible for the death penalty. The jury recommended that leniency not be shown and Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frederick Fleming sentenced him to death.
The high court upheld his conviction and sentence in 2000, but later accepted a new appeal based primarily on his contention that his lawyer didn’t effectively represent him. Davis also challenged the constitutionality of the death penalty and the state’s post-conviction procedures for handling capital cases.
The high court, in an opinion written by Justice Faith Ireland, affirmed the Court of Appeals regarding the guilt phase of his trial, but took up 17 separate arguments about the imposition of the death penalty, primarily regarding the effectiveness of counsel.
Davis said his lawyers should have objected to him being shackled during the trial and should have raised the issue of racial prejudice against him as a black man involved in a crime against an Asian woman. He also complained that his counsel didn’t move for a trial separate from a co-defendant, didn’t give an opening statement and didn’t object during the prosecutor’s closing argument.
The court didn’t buy any of his various arguments. The justices said there was overwhelming evidence of his guilt and that there was no reason to believe that it would change the verdict if his lawyer had objected to the leg irons.
But the possible prejudice during the sentencing phase of the trial can’t necessarily be overcome by “objective and overwhelming evidence,” so a new penalty phase will be granted, the court said.
The only two possible sentences for aggravated first degree murder are death or imprisonment for life without possibility of parole.
Justice Richard Sanders, in a dissent, said the conviction and sentences should be thrown out.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
