State Senate moves to kill death penalty

OLYMPIA — The death penalty would no longer be a sentencing option in Washington state if lawmakers enact a bill passed by the Senate on Friday, Jan. 31.

Senate Bill 5339 has bipartisan support to eliminate the death penalty — a punishment the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional in 2018. Gov. Jay Inslee also put a moratorium on it in 2014.

Instead of a death sentence, “all persons convicted of aggravated first degree murder must be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release or parole,” according to the Senate Bill Report.

During Friday’s Senate floor debate, Sen. Reuven...