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A full panel of Washington Supreme Court judges on Thursday said the death penalty imposed by that state was unconstitutional.
In its unanimous judgment, the court stated that the death penalty was imposed arbitrarily and based on racial prejudice and did not serve any legitimate penological purpose.
"All death sentences are converted to life imprisonment," said the majority.
The case concerned Allen Eugene Gregory, convicted of aggravated first degree murder and sentenced to death in 2001. On appeal from his conviction, he commissioned a study on the effect of race and county on the application of the death sentence.
The report found that the decisions to seek or inflict the death penalty, county by county, were different and that black defendants were four and a half times more likely to be sentenced to death than the defendants whites in the same situation.
The court said the new information prompted them to review Gregory's constitutional request and rule in his favor.
"It is now clear that the death penalty in Washington is arbitrarily and racially biased," Chief Justice Mary Fairhurst said in a majority decision.
"In view of the evidence we have, we are repealing Washington's death sentence as unconstitutional."
Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D), welcomed the decision in a statement, calling it "an extremely important moment in our quest for equal and equitable application of justice".
"Today's decision by the State Supreme Court happily ends the death penalty in Washington," Inslee said. "The court made it clear that the death penalty in our state was inflicted" arbitrarily and based on racial prejudice ", that it" was applied unequally "and that it was not used in any way. Purpose of criminal justice. "
The court's decision reduces the number of states that allow the death penalty to 30.
According to the Washington State Department of Prison Services, there are eight death row inmates and 78 people have been executed in the state since 1904 – none of them was a wife. The last execution, according to the online state registers, took place on September 10, 2010.
Avery Anapol contributed to this report, which was updated at 12:26 pm
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