High court restores death penalty in Monfort case

The state’s highest court rules that the prosecutor can ask for the death penalty in the murder case against Christopher Monfort, charged with ambushing a Seattle police officer in 2009.

King County Superior Court Judge Ronald Kessler, in February, tossed out the death penalty, ruling that the prosecutor abused his discretion and failed to consider factors that might merit leniency.

But the State Supreme Court Thursday decided that the prosecutor properly used his subjective discretion. The high court also declared that the prosecutor need not conduct “an exhaustive investigation of mitigating circumstances before filing a death penalty notice.”

Monfort will use an insanity defense when he goes to trial for killing officer Timothy Brenton on Halloween 2009. Less than one week later, Monfort was shot and paralyzed in a confrontation with police in Tukwila.