In this 2008 photo, the execution chamber at the Washington State Penitentiary is shown with the witness gallery behind glass at right, in Walla Walla. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

In this 2008 photo, the execution chamber at the Washington State Penitentiary is shown with the witness gallery behind glass at right, in Walla Walla. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

State Supreme Court ends ‘racially biased’ death penalty

Death row inmates, including one who killed a correctional officer in Monroe, will now serve life terms.

  • By RACHEL LA CORTE Associated Press
  • Thursday, October 11, 2018 1:07pm
  • Northwest

By Rachel La Corte and Gene Johnson / Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Washington’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state’s death penalty Thursday, ruling that it had been used in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory manner.

Washington has had a moratorium on executions since 2014, but the ruling makes it the 20th state to do away with capital punishment by legislative act or court decree. The court converted the sentences of the eight people on Washington’s death row to life in prison.

“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,” Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote in the lead opinion.

She added: “Our capital punishment law lacks ‘fundamental fairness.’”

Defense lawyers had long challenged the death penalty on those grounds, noting the state’s worst mass murderers and serial killers, Green River killer Gary Ridgway among them, had received life terms, not death. In a 5-4 ruling in 2006, the justices rejected an argument from a death row inmate that he shouldn’t be executed because Ridgway hadn’t been executed.

This time, death penalty critics were armed with more data about how capital punishment works, including a statistical analysis by University of Washington sociologists. Their report showed that although prosecutors were not more likely to seek the execution of black defendants, juries were about four times more likely to sentence black defendants to death.

“Now the information is plainly before us,” Fairhurst wrote. “To the extent that race distinguishes the cases, it is clearly impermissible and unconstitutional.”

Gov. Jay Inslee, a one-time supporter of capital punishment, imposed the 2014 moratorium. In a written statement, the Democrat called the ruling “a hugely important moment in our pursuit for equal and fair application of justice.”

“The court makes it perfectly clear that capital punishment in our state has been imposed in an ‘arbitrary and racially biased manner,’ is ‘unequally applied’ and serves no criminal justice goal,” Inslee wrote.

The ruling came in the case of Allen Eugene Gregory, a black man who was convicted of raping, robbing and killing Geneine Harshfield, a 43-year-old woman, in 1996.

His lawyers, Neil Fox and Lila Silverstein, said the death penalty is arbitrarily applied and that it is not applied proportionally, as the state Constitution requires.

“However one feels about the propriety of capital punishment in theory, in practice the death penalty is imposed in an unfair, arbitrary, and racially biased manner,” Silverstein said in a written statement. “The Supreme Court properly ruled the Washington Constitution does not tolerate such an unfair system.”

Dozens of former state judges took the unusual step of urging the court to use Gregory’s case to strike down capital punishment. Among them was former Justice Faith Ireland, who sided with the narrow majority in upholding capital punishment in 2006.

In Thursday’s decision, the court did not rule out the possibility that the Legislature could come up with another manner of imposing death sentences.

“We leave open the possibility that the legislature may enact a ‘carefully drafted statute’ to impose capital punishment in this state, but it cannot create a system that offends constitutional rights,” the opinion said.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he would press the Legislature to make the sole punishment for aggravated murder life in prison without release.

The court did not reconsider any of Gregory’s arguments pertaining to guilt, noting that his conviction for aggravated first-degree murder “has already been appealed and affirmed by this court.”

Earlier this year, the state Senate passed a measure abolishing the death penalty, but it failed to pass in the House.

“There is a profound shift in our state and country that the death penalty is below us as a civil, just and moral society,” Democratic Sen. Reuven Carlyle, who had been a sponsor of those previous attempts, said in a text message.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Northwest

An apartment building under construction in Olympia, Washington in January 2025. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
Next stop for Washington housing: More construction near transit

Noticed apartment buildings cropping up next to bus and light rail stations?… Continue reading

Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero / Washington State Standard
Lt Gov. Denny Heck presiding over the Senate floor on April 27.
Washington tries to maintain B.C. ties amid Trump era tensions

Lt. Gov. Denny Heck and others traveled to Victoria to set up an interparliamentary exchange with British Columbia, and make clear they’re not aligned with the president’s policies or rhetoric.

Commuters from Whidbey Island disembark their vehicles from the ferry Tokitae on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018 in Mukilteo, Wa.  (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Bids for five new hybrid ferries come in high

It’s raising doubts about the state’s plans to construct up to five new hybrid-electric vessels with the $1.3 billion lawmakers have set aside.

A speed limiter device, like this one, will be required for repeat speeding offenders under a Washington law signed on May 12, 2025. The law doesn’t take effect until 2029. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
Washington to rein in fast drivers with speed limiters

A new law set to take effect in 2029 will require repeat speeding offenders to install the devices in their vehicles.

Members of the Washington Public Employees Association march at the 2025 public service recognition event at the state Capitol on May 7, 2025. (Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)
Union urges Ferguson not to sign budget without their pay raises

Lawmakers say a union representing 5,300 Washington state workers and community college employees ratified a contract too late to be funded this year.

Attorney General Nick Brown (center) announces a lawsuit against the Trump administration in Seattle, Washington, on May 9, 2025, over its declaration of an energy emergency. (Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
Trump energy emergency latest target for Washington AG

In a 15-state lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle, states argue the president is abusing his authority to fast-track fossil fuel projects.

WA State Supreme Court upholds ban on high-capacity ammo magazine sales

Firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds will remain outlawed under a 2022 law that a gun shop challenged as unconstitutional.

Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero / Washington State Standard
The Washington state Capitol on April 18.
Why police accountability efforts failed again in the Washington Legislature

Much like last year, advocates saw their agenda falter in the latest session.

Heavy rain eroded part of Upper Hoh Road, closing it in December. (Photo courtesy of Jefferson County)
Heavy rain eroded part of Upper Hoh Road, closing it in December. (Photo courtesy of Jefferson County)
Hoh Rain Forest road to reopen after state assistance to repair washout

With the help of over $600,000 in state money, the sole access… Continue reading

A couple walks around Harborview Park as the  Seaspan Brilliance, a 1,105-foot cargo ship, moors near the Port of Everett on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021 in Everett, Washington.  The ship is moored until it can offload its cargo in Vancouver, B.C. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
WA ports await sharp drop in cargo as Trump’s tariff battle with China drags on

Shippers trying to get ahead of the import taxes drove a recent surge, officials say.

A person turns in their ballot at a ballot box located near the Edmonds Library in Edmonds, Washington on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Decision on investing WA Cares tax dollars in stock market goes to ballot

A proposed constitutional amendment would let assets, which exceed $1.6B, be invested much like the state’s pension funds. Voters rejected the idea in 2020.

Photo courtesy of Legislative Support Services
Gov. Bob Ferguson speaks to lawmakers and other officials at the state Capitol on Jan. 15 during his inaugural address. Throughout the legislative session, Ferguson indicated he would support legislation to cap rent increases, but he never voiced public support for the bill.
Behind the scenes, Ferguson backed bill to cap rent increases for months

The governor finally voiced support publicly for the legislation on Wednesday after a lawmaker shared information about his views.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.