Does Washington have a death penalty?

When Pierce County Prosecutor Gerry Horne explained his deal with the suspected killer of Zina Linnik – show us where you left her and we won’t try to kill you – he mentioned the fact that capital punishment is rarely carried out in Washington. Read tomorrow’s editorial for our take on the case.

Only one condemned man, Charles Rodman Campbell, has actually been executed here against his will since 1963. Three others – Westley Allen Dodd, Jeremy Sgastegui and James H. Elledge – have also been put to death, but those were basically cases of assisted suicide: They refused to appeal their sentences.

The Washington Supreme Court has been the graveyard of death sentences; it never meets one it likes.

Here is the Department of Corrections’ informative page on capital punishment in Washington – including a link to a list of every last criminal put to death here since 1904.