Jim Kinard was a wonderful person and Caleb Hutton’s article was a somber reminder of the risks our law enforcement officers knowingly and willingly face every single day (“Police radios will go silent in memory of Sgt. Jim Kinard,” The Herald Aug. 15). Thank you, Caleb. Greater appreciation to Jim, and every one who puts on that uniform despite the grave risks.
It was also a reminder of an activist, political bent our state Supreme Court has long been affected by, some times more than others. The article states, as so many articles have, that the death penalty for Jim Kinard’s and Ron Modlin’s killer was reversed because the jurors “saw him in handcuffs.” No. They didn’t. Judge Larry McKeeman even held a hearing to determine whether jurors saw the murderer in ankle shackles or restraints. It was clear they had not. The Supreme Court reversed the penalty anyway, despite the fact that their rationale had evaporated. It was an undeserved slap in the face to Judge Larry McKeeman, the jurors, the victim’s families, and the community.
More recently the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty in Washington was racially biased against minority defendants, despite the fact that everyone executed in Washington since 1980 (all five of them) had been white, and that the overwhelming majority on death row were white too. This was another undeserved slap in the face of Washington voters, prosecutors and trial judges.
When it comes to the death penalty, perhaps some justices past and present just dont like it, because when the facts don’t support their ideology they seem to just impose it anyway. One thing for sure though, is that it wasnt Judge McKeeman’s fault that the court reversed the penalty for the killer of Kinard and Modlin, and at some point it would be great if articles reflected that.
I practiced in front of Judge Mckeeman for many years. He was an honest judge who tried to follow the law regardless of his personal beliefs, and he did so consistently. That’s what he did in the Kinard/Modlin case. It is an important principle the vast majority of judges follow. Unfortunately, not all of them.
Mark Roe
Former Snohomish County prosecuting attorney
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