The crime of murdering a child would join the list...

The crime of murdering a child would join the list of offenses automatically eligible for the death penalty under legislation filed in the memory of a 9-year-old Spokane girl killed by her father. Senate Minority Leader James West, R-Spokane, said state sentencing guidelines allow prosecutors to seek the execution of people who kill police officers and firefighters. Killing a child should be added to the list, he said. West, following a trend in which lawmakers name legislation for crime victims, is calling the measure the Valiree Jackson Act in memory of a girl whose body was found in November 1999 near Springdale. The girl's father, William "Brad" Jackson, was convicted in October and sentenced to 56 years in prison. And it's not as though child-killers are avoiding the death penalty in Washington. All 3 of the men executed since the state enacted its current death penalty laws -- Jeremy Sagastegui, Westley Allan Dodd and Charles Rodman Campbell -- killed young children.