facts, regardless of what your morals are on this issue,” says Holly Ballard, outreach coordinator for the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. “The policy, as it exists, is not working, and we believe it’s not fixable.” That’s why the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is fighting for repeal, partnering with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington under the umbrella of the Safe and Just Alternatives Campaign. Despite growing national momentum, the bill is unlikely to go anywhere this year, says Shankar Narayan, ACLU of Washington’s legislative director. This is due in large part to Senate gridlock. At the earliest, he says, the bill has a chance of passing in 2015. Until then, he says, it’s important to simply raise public awareness. According to a 2006 survey conducted by the Washington State Bar Association, a death penalty trial costs, on average, about $800,000 more than a non-death penalty trial for aggravated murder. The report concludes that the high cost of capital punishment could “cause a prosecutor in a county with financial constraints to elect not to pursue the death penalty. Such financial pressures could result in the uneven application of the death penalty across the state.” These sorts of financial considerations motivate Morgan. In 2010, he retired after nearly 35 years working in Washington state prisons — 26 spent at the penitentiary in Walla Walla, where all executions are carried out in Washington. Although he won’t discuss specifics (per prison regulations), he says that during his career he was present for three executions. In testimony given in March, he relates how, as director of the penitentiary during the 2008 recession, he was asked to close prisons and lay off employees — a move that, he says, showed him the needless expense of death row. It was the waste of state funds, more than any moral argument, that truly convinced him. “I can understand why these people would want these folks killed,” Morgan says. “And I didn't lose any sleep over the executions that I participated in. ... But I do lose sleep over the fact that my government [carried out the executions].” Repeal groups share many of the concerns voiced by prodeath-penalty lawmakers. However, for them the key issue is justice. Rep. Brad Klippert, R-Kennewick, says the process takes too long and puts victims’ families through too much emotional trauma. Instead of abolishing the death penalty, Klippert believes the whole process should be streamlined. Although he hasn’t done this, he suggests reaching out to the courts and the judicial system to see how the process could be expedited. “The No. 1 thing that I think we need to pursue with the criminal justice system is just that, justice,” Klippert says. “And the death penalty is one of the tools that we have ... in our criminal justice system to do just that, pursue justice.” Part of the problem, Klippert says, is that pro-repeal activists don’t truly understand the horrendous nature of these crimes. “I worked as a police officer full time, and I’ve seen the horrible, heinous things that people do to other innocent people,” he says. “For them to say that this would be cruel or unusual ... well, they need to understand the absolute horrible, heinous crimes that [death row inmates] committed.” Klippert says there is little organized pro-death-penalty support because the push to repeal is not a true threat. When and if more momentum builds for the bill, he says, pro supporters will emerge. Although public opinion is shifting, a majority of Americans still favor capital punishment. In October, Gallup released a poll showing that 60 percent of Americans support the death penalty, the lowest level of support in more than 40 years. Nationwide, 18 states have abolished the death penalty, most recently Maryland in May. Worldwide, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty. Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, has introduced legislation to repeal the death penalty for the five years he’s been in office. Although he believes the capital punishment is ineffective and costly, his primary objection is that it’s wrong. “I think the death penalty is below us as a civilized society,” he says. “More than anything, we’ve reached a tipping point, where the data is overwhelming that this is not achieving a meaningful public policy objective. It’s a vestige of an old era.”
SUNDAY, JANUARY 26TH 7 PM R $25 • G $15 Purchase tickets at the casino or any TicketsWest outlet.
1 800 523-2464 | CDACASINO.COM |
/CDACASINORESORT
JANUARY 9, 2014 INLANDER 19