King County Public Defender welcomes moratorium on executions
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
David Chapman, interim Public Defender for King County, issued the following statement on Governor Jay Inslee’s announcement Tuesday to place a moratorium on executions in Washington state:
“I’m deeply encouraged by Governor Inslee’s decision to place a moratorium on executions in our state. This was a courageous move on his part and an important one, as it affords us an opportunity to begin a much-needed statewide discussion about this controversial and costly penalty. Questions abound about whether the death penalty is fair or equitable and about whether we, as a society, want state-sanctioned violence to be our answer to violence in our society.
"The Innocence Project, meanwhile, has proven that our system of justice is fallible. And once a person is executed, exoneration is meaningless.
“Governor Inslee has given us the time-out we need to begin this conversation and address these critical issues. I applaud his courage and his leadership.”
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Here is a 1991 account of one of the 9 murderers whose death sentence Gov. Inslee plans to ignore:
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Nothing can bring back 12-year-old Cassie Holden, bludgeoned to death in a wooded area in Bremerton, Wash., three years ago while picking a bouquet of wildflowers.
But Frank Holden, the Pocatello girl's father, gets some satisfaction from knowing that a bloody pair of shoelaces helped send the 35-year-old man convicted of killing his daughter to Washington's death row.The latest in forensic science - DNA testing for genetic markers or unique human blueprints - combined with circumstantial evidence brought justice for Holden's daughter and only child. The family lives at Gibson Jack, south of Pocatello.
The defense argued unsuccessfully that the sophisticated DNA testing was marred by faulty equipment. The Holden case was the first time DNA testing of physical evidence was used in a capital case in Washington.
Such testing is becoming more widely accepted in courts throughout the country, said Pam Marcum of the Idaho Department of Law Enforcement's Bureau of Forensics Services.
It took three years to bring the case full circle, often to the frustration of Cassie's parents. The Holdens said Brian Moran and Irene Asai, the Kitsap County prosecutors who prosecuted the case, worked hard on the case and became personal friends.
The Holdens' family tragedy began three summers ago when Cassie arrived at Bremerton to visit her mother Terri and a half-brother. She disappeared the afternoon of June 13, 1988, failing to return home for dinner. That night and the next day searchers scoured the heavily wooded neighborhood to no avail.
The next day, the girl's body was found in a wooded area off a popular path. She'd been beaten repeatedly about the head with a heavy rock. The murder weapon and a bouquet of flowers were found near her body. Contrary to rumors at the time, police said the girl was not raped.
The horror ended, they hope, this July 2 when Jonathan Gentry, the man convicted of her murder, was sentenced to die.
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