Death penalty process consumes too much time and money

This past week at a press conference, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that Washington state would not be putting any prisoners to death as long as he is in office.

This came as a surprise to many, including myself, as Inslee had never brought up the issue of the death penalty since he became govenor. At the news conference, he mentioned he was previously in favor of executions for prisoners, but recently “had a change of heart.” He also said that there are “too many flaws” in the system.”

Growing up, I was a fan of crime shows and would always be thrilled whenever the crafty detective caught the bad guys and hauled them off to jail.

In some circumstances, prisoners were placed in front of a judge, who would bang his gavel and order the prisoner to be “sentenced to death.” After the screaming prisoner was hauled away by two muscular guards, that was it. We assumed that the prisoner, would meet his end in the electric chair and the world would be a happier place.

Although executing prisoners promises a final resolution — especially to families whose lives were effected by the deeds of someone on death row – there is an entire appeals process that happens between the time a judge hands down a final verdict, and the prisoner meets his end by way of electric chair or lethal injection

According to Capital Punishment in Context, criminals who are sentenced to death automatically get a direct appeal, which is made to the state’s highest court and limited to issues from the trial. After hearing arguments from both sides, judges can affirm the conviction and sentence, reverse the conviction or reverse the death sentence. If the judges maintain the sentence, the criminal can file for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court to review the lower court’s judgment.

If the Court denies the writ, criminals can then move into the post-conviction appeals process and go through the same events at the state level, which includes another writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court.

If the Supreme Court denies the second writ, the convict can move on to the federal appeals process where they can petition to the U.S. District Court, then U.S. Court of Appeals. If the latter denies relief to the prisoner, the only option left is to — once again —petition the Supreme Court for another writ of certiorari. Once the Court denies the writ for a third time, the criminal’s only hope is for executive clemency, where a governor can delay the execution.

The appeals process is not something that gets finished in a short amount of time. Cal Coburn Brown, the last prisoner executed in Washington state in, 2010. He spent 16 years on death row. His final chances of a reprieve were denied by the courts hours before his death.

While the prisoner who are sentenced to death go through these extensive appeals process, they are not the ones paying the court fees. That burden belongs to the taxpayers.

According to a 2006 study by the Washington State Bar Association, death penalty cases roughly generate around $470,000 in additional costs to the prosecution and defense over the cost of trying the same case as an aggravated murder without the death penalty for court personnel.

We can include families of victims among the taxpayers.

Critics argue that Inslee’s position is “unfair” to families who have had to wait years to wait to see “justice” served to the criminal who ruined their lives. But is it fair they should have to pay for these court fees while waiting several years for the courts to repeatedly turn down the criminal’s appeals - or worse, grant him a reprieve.

Inslee is not abolishing the death penalty, nor is he pardoning any of the current eight inmates on death row. Once he is out of office, his successor could lift the moratorium and resume prisoner executions.

If the state wants to keep the death penalty, they should find a way to make the process quicker and cheaper.

Society thinks of criminals on death row as “embodiments of evil” and wants to see justice dealt swiftly to them. So why are they allowed to get repeated chances at life?

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].