H-3386.1          _______________________________________________

                                  HOUSE BILL 2280

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              54th Legislature             1996 Regular Session

By Representatives Hargrove, Chappell, Buck, Pelesky, Goldsmith, McMahan, Hymes, Mulliken, Johnson and Thompson

Read first time 01/09/96.  Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.

Clarifying the method of execution to be used in Washington state.

     AN ACT Relating to the method of execution; amending RCW 10.95.180; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

     Sec. 1.  RCW 10.95.180 and 1986 c 194 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

     (1) The punishment of death shall be supervised by the superintendent of the penitentiary and shall be inflicted ((either by hanging by the neck or, at the election of the defendant,)) by intravenous injection of a substance or substances in a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death and until the defendant is dead, or, at the election of the defendant, by hanging by the neck until the defendant is dead.  In any case, death shall be pronounced by a licensed physician.

     (2) All executions, for both men and women, shall be carried out within the walls of the state penitentiary.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

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