Heartfelt testimony as House committee considers death penalty ban

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Opponents argue the death penalty takes too long, costs too much and is unevenly applied

But don't tell that to Lisa Hamm.

Her sister, Jayme Biendl, was a corrections officer killed by an inmate already in prison for life.

"Abolishing the death penalty will in no way be a relief to myself or my family since it is the only form of punishment he is already serving life without parole," she told the House Judiciary Committee.

Scroll down to continue reading

More news from KIRO 7

• Police investigate whether racing may have caused high-speed crash in Marysville
• Pedestrian hit, killed by street sweeper in Bellevue
• Snow flurries possible in Seattle with up to 3" in parts of South Sound
• Jesse Jones investigates restaurant outside city limits with soda tax surcharge
• Several injured in wrong-way crash on NB I-405

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APP

​
But not all survivors feel the same.

Teresa Matthis lost her brother to a killer. "We'd experienced what it was like for someone our family member's life and we didn't want that to happen to anyone else," Matthis said.

There are eight people now on Washington's death row. Studies show it costs an average of $1 million beyond the average cost of maintaining a prisoner to pursue the death penalty. 

For the first time, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg is taking a vocal role against the death penalty.

"There are men on death row in Washington, one them committed his crime in 1988. He's still on death row. He's no closer to dying because of the hand of the state than he has ever been," Satterberg testified. 

Others support retaining the death penalty as leverage to force murderers like Gary Ridgway to plead guilty and provide information. Satterberg helped negotiate that plea, but no longer wants that power.

"Imagine that the state as a policy is saying, we wanted to be able to threaten to execute somebody if they don't plead guilty. That's the leverage that we're talking about. That's the leverage that we're talking about. That's completely unfair, unjust."

Hamm wants justice too.

"By passing this bill, it'll take away the only punishment left for the monster who murdered my sister. I'm strongly opposed against this bill," Hamm said.

While the death penalty repeal has passed the Senate, it's fate remains uncertain in the House.

Cox Media Group