Washington Senate Passes Death Penalty Repeal Bill

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – A measure that would repeal the state’s death penalty law has passed the Senate for the third time in three years.

The bill now heads to the House for consideration, where is has stalled in previous years.

Gov. Jay Inslee has said he will sign it if it makes it to his desk.

Before the 2018 ruling, execution was already extremely rare in Washington, and a governor-imposed moratorium has blocked its use since 2014.

But the court’s decision eliminated it entirely, converting the sentences for the state’s eight death row inmates to life in prison without release.

The court did not rule out the possibility that the Legislature could come up with another manner of imposing death sentences that would be constitutional.