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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State to take role of killer

Rusty Nelson Special to The Spokesman-Review

Everybody’s talking about homicide in the Inland Northwest. The topic brings diverse people together, and we have a variety of homicides to discuss without even peeking at Iraq or Afghanistan, Discovery Channel headquarters, or Georgia and Texas.

Surely each reader of the Opinion page has an opinion about the death of pastor Scott Creach, and some of us wonder what the buzz would be if Deputy Brian Hirzel had died, instead. The story of Shellye Stark continues to be sensational well past her sentencing to 50 years in prison. In North Idaho, Edgar Steele’s legend grows, although his alleged targets live.

No wonder there’s so little discussion of the homicide Washington has arranged for Thursday night. No wonder we haven’t considered the state’s emergence as a serial killer. After all, we’ve only conducted two hangings and two lethal injections at Walla Walla since reinstating the death penalty 30 years ago.

The killer whom we are asked to kill is Cal Brown, and our state feels sure you would like to hasten his death. He was dangerous 19 years ago, although Oregon decided he was not a threat and released him from prison, sure that his personality disorder would not cause any grief. After his demented and lethal attack upon Holly Washa, however, Washington authorities decided he was just another bad guy and packed him off to await execution. He must die for the commission of homicide, and his death certificate will show that the cause of his death is homicide.

No problem. I think we like homicide. We glorify assassins as long as we approve their choices of victims. We want our police to be prepared to snuff out the life of any human who threatens us or our property, if they could only be a little more civil with people like Scott Creach or Otto Zehm. We cling to executions as a right, but most would like a voice on individual cases.

It’s very interesting that the Washington Constitution bans “cruel punishment,” a higher standard than the U.S. Constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” Former U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger said, after many states reinstituted death statutes, “there is no doubt that capital punishment is cruel, but it is not unusual.” As state killings become more unusual internationally, our state’s leaders and courts avoid any dilemma by allowing “the good guys” to define the terms, as long as we can be less cruel than Florida and Virginia, Iran and China.

What it will have come down to for Cal Brown is that not enough of us are upset that he is to be killed in our names, dragging us down to his 1991 level of behavior while slurping state resources needed to prevent crime and treat mental illness and addiction.

We are likely to go on calling executions strong punishment, although they and preparations for them continue to weaken us fiscally, morally and constitutionally. We consider our state better than states that execute people on the basis of official lies and coerced testimony, even as we give those states support and encouragement, blessing the system of “Somebody’s got to die for this crime!”

We sustain the cycle of violence as we send the message “Sometimes you have to pretend that mercy has nothing to do with justice. Sometimes violence is the only satisfying solution.” We will find no irony in insisting that the “bad guys” quit killing before the “good guys” quit killing.

If you’ve tired of homicide, you are not alone. A few of us have state representatives hoping you might help them end legal homicides in Washington. Others of us have representatives who know little about our dysfunctional punishment system and need to hear about it from constituents. Our governor and our attorney general believe they are executing not a child of God, but the wishes of the good people of Washington.

I cannot condemn citizens who will rejoice in the death of Cal Brown. I was raised to expect elected officials to act in the best interests of the people, regardless of prevailing political winds, and I expect many share that experience.

I must, however, raise the alarm and hope for a more realistic perspective regarding the boat which bears us all. By the time I grasped the truth about life and death, truth and violence, right and wrong, I found myself bitterly complicit in many needless and cruel homicides.

Rusty Nelson is a member of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, which has information on services and vigils marking the execution, available at www.pjals.net or (509) 838-7870.