Senate Dems bring back bill that creates early release path for aggravated murderers, others

Senate Democrats in Washington state have once again passed a bill that creates a pathway to early release for a variety of incarcerated people serving long sentences or even life without parole, including those sentenced for aggravated murder and murder in the first degree.

The bill doubles the membership of the Clemency and Pardons Board, and requires certain representation on the board to ensure equity. The board would consider petitions for early release for incarcerated people who have served 15, 20, or 25 years of their sentence, depending on the crime they’re serving time for.

“This bill is about understanding the reality that people change,” said bill sponsor and long-time King County Prosecuting Attorney Manka Dhingra during floor debate Wednesday.

“Those of us who work in the criminal justice system know that we normally see people at their worst moment, but we also know that people are more than their worst day,” she added.

Dhingra’s office also noted the proposal had been a years-long effort that started with former Sen. Jeannie Darneille as lead sponsor, which Dhingra took over three years ago. They have been taking input to perfect the policy, and it has finally gotten to the point where a critical mass of stakeholders think it’s ready, according to Dhingra’s staff, who also noted they have the support of the NAACP and the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.

“This bill would establish a system in which individuals, who have reformed themselves over many years, could be released to community custody. This is not about pardons. This is about recognizing that people change. They grow. They take responsibility for their actions, they atone, they’re remorseful and there should be a process to recognize that,” Dhingra explained during Senate debate.

“This bill is about having an open process with complete input from everyone. It starts with a full assessment of the individual and then has an extremely detailed, exhaustive list of factors and information that the board will consider,” she added.

That exhaustive list includes the following, according to the bill:

• public safety
• the person’s criminal history; the nature and circumstances of the offenses committed, including current and past offenses
• the person’s social and medical history
• the person’s acceptance of responsibility, remorse, and atonement
• evidence of the person’s rehabilitation
• statements of correctional staff, program supervisors, and volunteer facilitators
• input from the victims of the crime
• input from police and prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the crime was committed
• input from persons in the community pledging their support of the person if released
• the available resources in the community to assist the person with transition
• a risk assessment and psychological evaluation provided by DOC
• the sentencing judge’s analysis in imposing an exceptional sentence
• any other relevant factors

But that criteria was not enough to move Republicans who expressed serious concerns with the bill, as they have in years past.

“Taking everything into account, I sincerely believe that there is additional risk to public safety by this [policy],” Republican Senator Mike Padden said.

Republican Senator Jeff Holy — who was a cop for over 20 years – expressed several concerns, including the impact to the victims and the community if even one of those people released reoffended. Holy also questioned the timing, given the state of the criminal justice system in Washington following the police reform bills that passed last session.

“Washington state is currently in a situation where the Criminal Procedure process in Washington after last year’s legislative session is in significant disarray,” Holy said. “And if you add to that the mass exodus of police officers in our state, we are so seriously behind the eight ball on so many things having to do with criminal processes in Washington state. While in the best of times, I may well consider a bill like this, but right now this is the worst of times to offer something like this. We’re in the middle of a mess trying to reassemble the criminal justice system.”

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Others, such as Republican Senator Judy Warnick, were worried about broken promises to victims who were told they would be safe.

“There was also a promise made to me a few years ago when I voted to repeal the death penalty. That was a very tough, tough vote for me. But I believe in the sanctity of life. So I took that vote with the understanding that we would not be releasing people, like the incarcerated persons that we’re talking about now — aggravated murder, murder in the first,” Warnick explained.

“We’re looking at possibly 196 murderers, according to our research, being released in the next five years,” Warnick said.

Democratic Senator Jaime Pedersen countered that none of those concerns were what this policy was about.

“What we’re talking about here is not a blanket release of a whole bunch of people who are serving in prison. What we’re talking about here is an opportunity for people who can demonstrate that they are no longer any danger to the community to go before the clemency and pardons board and apply for this conditional commutation status,” Pedersen explained.

“It’s an opportunity for victims to express an opinion about whether there should be forgiveness. It’s an opportunity for those incarcerated persons, many of whom have taken a brand new path in their life, to have some hope,” he added.

Pedersen also addressed the concerns regarding limited public safety resources, raised by Holy and others.

“This is absolutely a time when we need to focus scarce resources on punishment and deterrence for the people who are actual risks to public safety,” Pedersen stressed.

However, “when after due process, we conclude that someone who has been sentenced to life in prison, no longer needs to be in prison, there is no public purpose served by continuing to incarcerate that person at public expense,” he explained. “It’s time that we had a process that allows for that person to be released, with the promise that, if there is a single violation, conditional commutation is over and the person will return to serve the remainder of the sentence.”

An earlier version of the bill in 2019 sparked backlash from those who said the way that bill was written would have allowed people like the Green River Killer to qualify for early release, but Dhingra’s office stressed that issue had been resolved.

“The reason that those stakeholders, including the prosecutors, support the bill is because it has many layers of safeguards to make sure that egregious cases don’t get out,” according to Dhingra’s staff.

“People have to demonstrate that they have truly changed their lives. This version of the bill strengthens the input from prosecutors and police as well as victims and their families — much more than is normally required. It sets the bar high to make sure that victims and survivors get a say in the outcome. So in a case where there are many victims and survivors who are opposed to commutation, that is a very weighty factor, and, realistically, that kind of a petition won’t be successful.”

The bill passed along party lines 28-19-2.

The bill now moves to the House, where Public Safety Committee Chair Roger Goodman is anxiously awaiting the bill, which he intends to give a hearing.

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