Death Penalty Opponent’s Memorial Highlights SCOTUS Arguments

In 1995, after 23 years serving on Washington state’s supreme court, Judge Robert Utter quit in protest of the death penalty. On April 29, the same day that a memorial was held for Utter at the court in Washington state, the U.S. Supreme Court justices were grappling with questions of lethal injection. A spokesperson for the Washington Supreme Court said the timing of the memorial was a coincidence, but one that Utter would have appreciated. Judge Utter dissented two dozen times in cases where the court upheld a death sentence before he finally resigned. “I have reached the point where I can no longer participate in a legal system that intentionally takes human life in capital punishment cases,” he wrote in his resignation letter. “We continue to demonstrate that no human is wise enough to decide who should die.”