USA - Washington. Washington Senate passes death penalty repeal bill (SB 5339)

Washington Senate passes death penalty repeal bill (SB 5339). The Senate approved the measure just months after the state’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down capital punishment as arbitrary and racially biased. The measure passed on a 28-19 vote, and would make that court ruling permanent by removing capital punishment as a sentencing option for aggravated murder and mandating instead a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. The bill now heads to the House for consideration, and Gov. Jay Inslee has said he will sign it if it makes it to his desk.