Photo: Washington’s lethal injection chamber isn’t much bigger than a closet. A claustrophobic could suffer a panic attack in there.
Washington became a non-death penalty state Thursday when the state supreme court declared the state’s capital punishment statute “invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner.” The ruling effectively converts the state’s eight outstanding death sentences to life imprisonment. Five of those inmates are white and three are black; one is a serial killer, one murdered his entire family, another killed a prison correctional officer, and four are child killers. Read story here and see profiles of these eight inmates here.