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September 9, 2010 in Nation/World, Region
Vigils mark hours leading up to execution
When Holly Washa’s name was announced at a candlelight vigil in Spokane this evening, community members stepped forward to light candles in honor of the 21-year-old woman raped and murdered in 1991. When vigil organizers announced the name of her killer, Cal Colburn Brown, more people stepped forward to light candles.
The glow of all of the candles, representing the victim and her perpetrator, illuminated faces that gathered for a prayer vigil on what they anticipated would be Brown’s last night.
Brown, 52, is scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Friday at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The U.S. Supreme Court, the state Supreme Court, U.S. District Court in Seattle and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied separate requests to halt the execution.
Wednesday afternoon Gov. Chris Gregoire announced she would not excuse Brown from execution. After 16 years on Death Row, Brown’s appeals ran out, and the group gathered to show their appreciation for all human life, and stand against killing for killing, they said.
“There’s a lot of violence in the world. What this man did is a violent act, but we can’t condone killing him. At some point we have to say it’s not OK to have this retribution,” said Linda Bland, who attended tonight’s vigil at Gonzaga University’s Crosby Center, sponsored by University Ministry and Catholic Charities.
Gonzaga Freshman Jay Orth said he attended to show support for life in general.
“I think all life is precious. Sometimes we question why people do things but we have to remember God made everyone beautiful and everyone should be respected,” Orth said.
Mary Pat Treuthart, 57, a law professor at Gonzaga University, drove to Walla Walla to protest the execution.
“I want to make a very strong statement to the citizens of Washington and to Gov. Gregoire that many of us are opposed to killing people in our names,” she said. “And I’m angry, saddened, and embarrassed that the U.S. is still using the death penalty to punish anyone for their crimes.”
Not too far from the Gonzaga campus, the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane organized a non-denominational ceremony followed by another vigil on the steps of the Spokane County Court House. A group of about 15 people huddled against a breeze, determined to stay out until midnight, and the news of whether Brown was executed.
“I want to express that I don’t want any part in killing a human being. Regardless of what he’s done, the state and I have no business killing him,” said Michael Poulin. “It’s a sad reflection on our society we have to kill to show that killing is wrong.”
PJALS Director Liz Moore said their vigil was intended to show their support for alternative solutions.
“We know this execution is being done in our names and we want to be clear support is not unanimous,” she said.
Gregoire, who opposes the death penalty yet refused to commute Brown’s sentence to life without parole, said Thursday she expected “to be up through the night,” in contact with her legal counsel and Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail. Brown’s execution was to be the first in her tenure as governor, although the state executed four prisoners while she served as attorney general.
Gregoire said in denying Brown’s clemency request that she wouldn’t substitute her personal views for the laws of the state.
Asked if she thought if capital punishment was “worth it” in view of the expenses to the public of multiple appeals that are funded on both sides by taxpayers, Gregoire said she couldn’t be objective enough to answer that question on Thursday.
Washa’s family wants and deserves some closure that they feel they will get with Brown’s execution, she said. “I don’t think it’s an issue of dollars and cents.”
Brown spent much of Thursday talking on the telephone with his attorneys and family members, said Belinda Stewart, communications and outreach director for the state Department of Corrections. He made the request for his last meal — a combination meat pizza, apple pie and root beer.
“He is resigned to what is going to happen tonight,” Stewart said Thursday. “He’s aware, he knows and he’s resigned.”
Brown would be the first Washington inmate to die by a one-drug lethal injection.
He was just hours from being injected with a three-drug cocktail in March 2009 when he received a last-minute stay of execution. The state Supreme Court granted the stay because another inmate had been granted a hearing on the constitutionality of the state’s lethal injection method.
Since then, Washington changed to a one-drug execution method and named a new four-member team to carry out the death sentence. Members of the team have not been publicly identified.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who has steadfastly supported the death sentence in this case, said he would witness the execution.
“It’s important for me to be there, first to be with the family, who has been through every step of this case for the last 19 years,” he said. “It’s important for me too, if we have a death penalty in this state, to not shy away from the ultimate administration of that sentence. I feel I need to be there to represent the system.”
Brown confessed to kidnapping Washa, of Burien, Wash., at knifepoint, then raping, torturing and killing her. He left her body in the trunk of a car.
Brown confessed while California authorities were interrogating him over an attack on a woman there.
Satterberg said Washa’s father, brother and two sisters had traveled to Washington from Nebraska to witness the execution. Washa had moved to the Seattle area from Ogallala, Neb.
“They are always going to miss Holly,” he said, but added that attending the execution marks the end of their commitment. “They made a moral commitment to themselves and their lost loved one that they were going to be here every step of the way for her.”
Originally from San Jose, Calif., Brown has a history of violent crime. He was convicted of assaults in California and Oregon, and served seven years in an Oregon prison. Brown was released on parole just two months before Washa’s death in 1991.
Since 1904, 77 men have been put to death in Washington. The last inmate executed was 58-year-old James Homer Elledge, who died by lethal injection for the 1998 stabbing and strangulation of Eloise Fitzner, 47, at the Lynnwood church where he was a janitor.
Eight men, including Brown, are on death row at the state penitentiary.
Staff writers Asia Hege and Jim Camden, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stocks plummet as outlook in Europe dims 
deacon46 on September 09 at 2:29 p.m.
20 years of our tax payer dollars. Time to flip the switch and put an end to this farce.
davidthewhat on September 09 at 5:41 p.m.
So how is it after 106 years we still have murders and violence that continue to require executions? How have we made progress in this country that would justify the death penalty? Killing this man will not prevent any other murders, or at least 76 executions did not stop this man from killing someone. So it is then revenge that the state of Washington is after if not to stop or prevent other murders, why is not the state of Washington not criminal itself if it is simply after revenge and not the prevention of continued murders of other murder victims. There is no reason that this man needs to be put to death other then the sense of justice in the form of revenge. He is harmless and put away. If money would be the sole motivator or the lack of any sense of mercy or compassion for a human life, what then, given the necessary circumstances, is your life truly worth, as well? Anything? Tell me then, what is your life truly worth if life is cheap as this?
Washington state is truly a murderous state and one of the worst in the nation. That us why I left Spokane because of how evil it is, of which, Washington state is truly an evil state. How is this execution is justified if the State of Washington is evil itself. Evil executing evil? Truly!
cff on September 09 at 7:14 p.m.
Give us a Break. This guy has lived off the taxpayers for close to 20 years after a violent senseless crime in Washington, served 7 years in Oregon and had criminal history from California. Now he wants a stay due to mental illness. He should have been executed in 1992. Consider his victims, hopefully he will not get a last minute reprieve.
SugarShane on September 09 at 7:24 p.m.
In my opinion David, its because executions are done in private. If they were broadcast on national TV not only would we have the next reality TV hit, but they might actually deter some crime. Do you really believe the taxpayers have some kind of obligation to a man that raped and murdered someone? People that murder should be executed in the same fashion that they murdered their victims, so that they can truly feel what their victims did. Public stoning isnt looking so barbaric to me at this point.
davidthewhat on September 09 at 7:30 p.m.
cff, what is it to you whether this guy lives or dies? Do you think that it would cost too much to keep him alive in prison the rest of his life or that he deserves to die for his crimes? What is it to you? Are you too judge who should live and who should die based on what not only a news paper article say, but a Spokesman Review article? Do you know any of the circumstances of his life or his crime other than what you have judged by this? Human life is as cheap as that to you?
What makes you think you are so worthwhile and worthy if life is as cheap as this? Cheap as you seem to consider it to be that you place yourself above. You are without wrongdoing in your life? Obviously we are all harboring things in our hearts that are imperfect and you can judge what is only hypocritical in nature? What separates you from him and doing what he did? Your upbringing or the opportunity you have been afforded in life? You make judgments that are more than you appear to be qualified to make. You have not victimized anyone in your whole life? If you have, you need to be judged accordingly as well, shouldn’t you? Or perhaps that is different because it is you or that you shouldn’t because you got away with victimizing someone in some way?
oneanddone on September 09 at 7:34 p.m.
For those who claim that the death penalty is revenge rather than a deterrent - you’re right. People like this can’t be deterred because they are born and bred evil scum. All you can do is catch them, then brutally execute them. These people kill for the fun of it, not because they temporarily lost control. To protect another young woman, he has to die. Anything else allows for the chance of a repeat.
davidthewhat on September 09 at 7:48 p.m.
Sugar Shane, it isn’t something that could very well lead to more murders if they would televise executions? You make an assumption that executions have deterred murder in such a case such as this. I am making the point that if they execute such a person this does not raise the value of human life, but lowers it. If the worst of us are disposable, what make any of us worthy of life. It is then a matter of wealth or value that is the measure of human value that is the measure worthy of life itself? Who is too judge. Fallible human beings who can only judge in personal opinions? This should be the rule of law? Execute if we want too and we deem someone worthy of death. Who is to truly judge or is life without any real value if it is deemed as such? Is then life then also should have a monetary value, as well?
I don’t want to pay for your sick grandmother. I think she should be allowed to die because she has no value to me. I don’t care if she has killed and raped someone. I don’t want my tax money to pay for her. I am also quite vehement about it too. I am the judge of it, too. I have made myself the judge and I am right. Am I wrong? Perhaps I am even this man’s brother so I don’t want him to die.
davidthewhat on September 09 at 7:56 p.m.
Oneanddone, why kill them though? Makes no reason or purpose other then to extract evil on them. This is what society should be? What is the difference? He will spend his life in prison whether he is executed or not. He will never harm anyone again. What is the true point of executing him. To offer the citizens of the state of Washington a sense of “take that you scum bag”? It servers no real purpose in this society as few murderers think about execution when they kill. If they did, who would kill if they would be afraid of the consequences?
Even you have the want of killing him in your heart. You have the want of killing inside of you as well. What you write shows this.
DeCaYeD on September 09 at 7:57 p.m.
Waited 19 years to long.
Diana on September 09 at 7:58 p.m.
It’s about money and revenge for some. State sanctioned murder makes us no better than the criminals. The death penalty is not the mark of a civilized society.
davidthewhat on September 09 at 8:11 p.m.
Diana, that is one of the points I had tried to make. Killing this person will not make anything any better in the state of Washington. It can only make things worse. I consider it true that instead of finding this person unworthy of life, that if the state of Washington would consider his life worth something, it would be an improvement and a betterment over the want of his death. Killing him will not make anything better. Something the state of Washington would not do with its want of killing this person. If life was worth something, it would be worth something. The civilized society would think like this.
Diana on September 09 at 8:43 p.m.
I wonder how many of the posters who’ll feel better when he’s murdered by the state are also “pro-life” and blab about the sanctity of life? Laughable.
Buh-buh-but… that’s different!
eagleproducer on September 09 at 8:58 p.m.
I won’t explain my moral objections to the death penalty as most of them have been covered by other contributors to this thread.
In our form of constitutional republic type governance the state is only granted power(s) from the people. The people cannot grant the state powers they themselves don’t legally possess.
Gregoire is a coward and playing to the get tough on crime crowd to protect her fellow democrats running for office currently. She’ll never receive another vote from me no matter the office letting this happen on her watch. Shame on her!
nslopeofw on September 09 at 9:24 p.m.
I am pro death penalty (for certain crimes) and pro choice. Not that it matters, but just so you bleeding hearts don’t use that against me.
Revenge? Sure, for the families of the victims. Justice? Yes for the rest of us law abiding citizens. And, it would save taxpayers at least $40K per year per inmate. Ten years on death row, $400,000 per inmate.
Joesph Duncan has no reason to be kept alive. He destroyed a family, destroyed a community’s trust in fellow man, and has no remorse. He should die, as should all child molesters, torturers, murderers, terrorists, and other terror related crimes.
If we held public executions, and executed violently (hanging, shooting, etc), it WOULD be a deterrent. There is no proof otherwise, but there is proof from other times in history, as well as other countries in our time, that it does deter.
If you have a problem with the death penalty, feel free to take up the cause, and pay the state for the death row inmates’ incarceration and appeals. You will make some taxpayers, the scum that did these heinous crimes, and yourselves happy.
dukkandpooh on September 09 at 9:44 p.m.
I used to believe exactly as davidthewhat does, until Charles Rodman Campbell happened…if you’ve never heard about him, read about him. He epitomizes evil, and I nearly throw up a little in my mouth every time I remember what he did to the Wicklund and Hendrickson families. The day I read about what he did to those people was the day I changed my mind about the death penalty. Then came Joseph Duncan. When prison no longer becomes about rehabilitation or punishment…and it’s a means of keeping the truly evil off the streets, then that’s when capital punishment is justified.
Mr_Bloggy on September 09 at 10:22 p.m.
His victim’s appeals for mercy were rejected. Syringe up.
Shadedmuse on September 09 at 10:48 p.m.
easy way to deal with prisoners is to starve them all, they are all way to fat and bloated.
davidthewhat on September 09 at 11:18 p.m.
nslopeofw, I don’t like your attitude so I am demanding your execution. I don’t consider that it takes any action on your part that is criminal that would require your execution. If opinion is justification to take life, why is it not a law to use execution for neighborly disputes or if it takes money from my pocket by anything you might say or do, then what, is it then right, just and good if I demand your death? Or is this ridicules? Executions for neighborly disputes are actually something that would be a way to resolve such disputes, you know.
It is simply your opinion that you say this man should die for reasons of monetary costs or your sense of justice. You have obviously drawn a line where you have made the judgment of who should die based on money, a sense of justice and a opinion of the lack of value of life itself. The Nazi’s marched into Poland and if they had won the war, they would have been justified in what they had tried to do, too. If they did succeed, execution for neighborly disputes very well could have been a thing of reality. So it is then that justice is that of opinion and of power.
If I were to get my way in my demands of your life for your attitude, ridiculous as this may sound, would I be justified in this just as my opinion in my demanding your execution because I don’t like your attitude? Who is to judge? Who is to make the laws? It is just as practical for me to eliminate people who disagree with me, as it is to live with them. It is even more so.
You have drawn a line that life is without value that money is more important than life, that life is without value, and this man’s life should be ended because you see no reason to allow him to live.
I am of the opinion that it is a much better reasoned approach to allow this man to live not only because it does no good to kill him other than to appease the desires of “the good people of the world” who want his death so to feel good about themselves and the world, but even more so it would do the state and the world a much better sense of good to let a man like this live because it is believed that even a man like this has an intrinsic value as a human being, if for no other reason to have produced good in the heart of other men for having mercy given to him. Is it not your sense of justice that which would produce mercy in other potential murderers by producing a sense of mercy in the world? This man could have intrinsic value for this. Killing him would only produce a meaner world and a meaner mankind. Having mercy on him would have the opposite effect.
Having mercy on such a man is the way to go because wishing for his death does not produce mercy on those who would otherwise kill for the lack of mercy they feel in their own hearts. It would do society much more good to have mercy on such a man and to use it to produce a sense of mercy then to simply say how bad he is and how he deserves to die and then kill him. This doesn’t stop murder, it creates it.
The lack of mercy in the heart of a murderer is of little difference then that of the good people of the world screaming for a man like such as this, to die. It would do the state of Washington a world of good to have mercy on such a man. It could do no less then to cause people to have mercy in their own hearts whether they are murderers or not.
ericdx on September 10 at 12:29 a.m.
There is one thing for certain, and this is enough of a reason to execute this scum. HE WILL NEVER KILL AGAIN. And as far as an insanity defense, all I can say about this is a paraphrase of a comment from the book Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein about putting a murderer to death:
“If he was sick, and could not be cured, why keep him alive? We shoot mad dogs, don’t we? And if he could be cured, what other possible action could there be from him, after realizing what he had done while he was “sick” except to commit suicide?”
He mudered a defensless woman. The Prision system has become a place where criminals get fed, clothed, get to exercise, and get TV, all for free. There is no punishment, only “rehabilitation.” The only problem is that it has been fairly well proven that “rehabilitation” does not work. Maybe if bleeding hearts like those that protested this scums execution were to take some of these killers, and rapists into their own homes, and “rehabilitate” them, maybe either they would be “rehabilitated”, but I am willing to bet that they would probably be screaming for blood after they, or their families were killed, raped, or otherwise injured.
To hold a vigil where the name of the victim gets recognized with the name of the killer, and both are morned, is a disservice to the family of the victim.
My sympathies are with the victim. As far as the man who was executed, good riddance to bad trash. I hope you roast your butt in Hell for all eternity.
RovingSoul on September 10 at 12:41 a.m.
I feel like he should get exactly what he did to his victims. Law-abiding Citizen style. Besides that, why should he live? He contributes nothing by living and is in fact a drain on the resources. I don’t think that ‘honest’ people should kill him, as that would make them murderers as well, but it would be easy enough to feed him to the other inmates. In response to all the pro-mercy people, I’m not merciful. In response to everyone who wants to know how much my life is worth - not much, but I’m not as expensive to keep around as he is, and I might actually contribute to society.
davidthewhat on September 10 at 1:04 a.m.
Hypocrites. Evil killing themselves. Only different in their own minds. A persons evil heart is only evil if it has commits a crime? Evil, in and of itself. Kill him then. Makes evil men feel good about themselves. Gives a sense of there own well being. The real reason to kill him. To feel good about yourselves.
Thayne on September 10 at 5:28 p.m.
Davidthewhat - your arguments are sounding a little silly. This murderer was not executed for a bad attitude. He was executed for brutally raping and murdering a young woman who did absolutely nothing to him. Try to imagine the horror she endured before dying. Why should he be allowed to live when he didn’t give her that right? People who prey on others without remorse should be executed. I find it very annoying you only thinking of this monster and not his victims. His death might not prevent other murders, but maybe the girls family will now have closure.
zarah_2004 on September 10 at 9:21 p.m.
David, would you feel the same way if the victim was your mom, wife, daughter or even your sister? Probably not. I know if someone did this to one of my daughters, they wouldn’t make it to prison, because they wouldn’t be alive. You don’t have to agree with the death penalty to realize that what was done was the right thing.