I recently watched a hearing before the Supreme Court on TVW.  The issue was whether Cecil Davis’ conviction for Aggravated Murder and sentence of death should be overturned a second time.  I then searched the web for information on persons in Washington who had been convicted of Aggravated Murder and been given a death sentence. I found the following pubic information at the Capital Punishment Case Status Report published monthly by the Attorney General’s Office.
1. JONATHAN LEE GENTRY convicted June 26, 1991 of fatally bludgeoning Cassie Holden, 12, on June 13, 1988 in Kitsap County.

2. DAROLD RAY STENSON convicted on August 11, 1994 for the shooting deaths of his wife, Denise Ann Stenson, 28; and his business partner, Frank Clement Hoerner, 33, on March 25, 1993 in Clallam County.

3. CLARK RICHARD ELMORE convicted on July 6, 1995 of one count of aggravated first degree murder and one count of rape in the second degree for the rape and murder of Christy Onstad, 14, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend on April 17, 1995 in Whatcom County.

4. DWAYNE A. WOODS convicted on June 20, 1997 of two counts of aggravated first degree murder for the murders of Telisha Shaver, 22, and Jade Moore, 18, on April 27, 1996 in Spokane County.

5. CECIL EMILE DAVIS convicted February 6, 1998 of one count of aggravated first degree murder for the suffocation/asphyxiation murder of Yoshiko Couch, 65, with a poisonous substance after burglarizing her home, robbing and then raping her January 25, 1997 in Pierce County.

6. DAYVA MICHAEL CROSS convicted June 22, 2001 for the stabbing deaths of his wife Anouchka Baldwin, 37, and stepdaughters Amanda Baldwin, 15, and Salome Holle, 18 in King County on March 6, 1999.

7. ROBERT LEE YATES JR. convicted September 19, 2002 of murdering Melinda Mercer, 24, in 1997 and Connie LaFontaine Ellis, 35, in 1998 in Pierce County.

8. CONNER MICHAEL SCHIERMAN convicted April 12, 2010 of four counts of aggravated first degree murder in the deaths of Olga Milkin, 28; her sons Justin, 5, and Andrew, 3; and her sister, Lyubov Botvina, 24, July 16, 2006 in King County.

The people of the state of Washington have repeatedly refused to abandon the death penalty as punishment for certain heinous crimes, but why should we have it at all if the defendant can make the appeal process postpone it indefinitely.   The appellate review process should not take 20 years.