Gov. Jay Inslee has become de-facto ally of death-row inmates

Let’s talk about Clark Richard Elmore.

Elmore, from Bellingham, is truly a bad man. He is evil. He admits that back in 1995, he raped and murdered a child. Yet, oddly enough, he has a de-facto ally in Governor Jay Inslee that might keep him alive.

Related: Keep this guy in mind when you debate the death penalty

Elmore confessed to police that he attacked his ex-girlfriend’s daughter, Kristy Lynn Ohnstad after she threatened to report him for molesting her when she was younger. She was 14 at the time.

He killed her and dumped her body near Lake Samish. Then Elmore pretended that he did nothing wrong. In fact, he was critical of the police, saying that they weren’t doing enough to find Kristy. He organized search parties to try and look for the body, trying to pull the scent away from where the murder happened. But he didn’t get away with it.

Elmore was found guilty in trial and sentenced to death. He’s exhausted every possible appeal and is set to be executed on Jan. 19.

But he’s in luck since he because in Washington state, where we have a rather feckless governor in Jay Inslee, who decided upon his election to halt all death-penalty cases. Of course, Inslee won’t try and change the law to make the death penalty illegal, because he doesn’t have the leadership skills to do that. He also doesn’t have the personality to get in a room with people who disagree with him and actually portray his point and convince them to change the law. So, he clings to the power that he has – the power that allows him to pretend he knows better than the state Legislature – by deciding to not move forward at all. He won’t allow the state to commit any executions.

Whatcom County Prosecutor David McEachran reportedly met with Inslee for about 30 minutes last week, with McEachran pleading with the governor to allow the state to put this man down. He showed Inslee the photos of the gruesome crime scene, the facts of the case — reminding him that this monster confessed to raping and killing a 14-year-old.

So far, Inslee has not taken any action. But why? Elmore has had his due process; we’ve due processed him to death. Only not, because it appears Inslee’s position on the issue is the only right one. Here’s his rationale:

The position I take is the one that follows the fundamental precept that we should have equal justice under law. So I did a lot of research about the death penalty in our state, and I’ve found some disturbing things. The fact is that the death penalty is not anywhere close to being used in an equitable measure. One person gets life, the other person gets death, it depends on which side of the county line you are.

Well, actually it depends on the case and the jury. You can get rid of juries, I guess. You could completely automate the process; take out all of the human element. But our justice system is founded on people making decisions: Your peers in the community deciding if you should live or die, go to prison or be free. I don’t know if the system is flawed or doing what it was designed to do, which is to not come out with a uniform response in every single case. Because not every single case is equal. Inslee continued:

There are racial aspects that enter into this and I don’t believe, no matter what you believe on the philosophical aspect, whether a New Testament or an Old Testament person, and both are sincere, we’ve got to have a system that is equal.

What system is Inslee proposing? I certainly haven’t seen any movements. At this point, Inslee is in his second term and claiming that the system is broken and refuses to go forward with any of the death-penalty cases until the system is fixed.

So, basically, he has failed.

The fact is that someone loses the luxury of choosing his or her own fate after raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl. You decide to do something that despicable, you go to jail. You get death. I find that to be an acceptable trade-off.

I guess Inslee disagrees?

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