Convicted killer executed with lethal jab
US' Washington state executed its first prisoner in nine years early Friday, when it carried out the death penalty in the case of a man who raped, tortured and murdered a Seattle-area woman.
Cal Coburn Brown was given a lethal injection at Washington State Penitentiary
Cal Coburn Brown, 52, was given a lethal injection at Washington State Penitentiary, prison officials said. The father, brother and two sisters of his victim, Holly Washa, 21, witnessed the execution, as did King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg. Brown's attorney and members of his family were not present at the execution, though he spoke with them by phone Thursday.
The US Supreme Court, 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, and the state Supreme Court on Thursday all rejected efforts to stay the execution. Gov. Chris Gregoire rejected his plea for clemency on Wednesday. Brown had argued that his mental illness was not adequately considered during his sentencing and that it should bar his execution.
According to court records, he had bipolar disorder. Brown confessed to killing Washa during an interrogation in California for an alleged assault on a woman there. He later led authorities to Washa's battered body, which was inside the trunk of a car.
He met Washa near Sea-Tac airport in Washington when he pointed to Washa's rear tire, indicating a problem. When she stopped to check it out, he carjacked her at knifepoint. For the next 36 hours, Brown robbed, raped and tortured Washa, before stabbing and strangling her.
Holly Washa was raped, tortured and murdered
"His demeanor - that's what struck us. And his lack of remorse," said Lt. Al Franz of the Palm Springs police department, one of the investigators who first interviewed Brown in California. "This is a violent individual, and he was just very, very calm while he was telling his story," Franz said. " "The lack of remorse was pretty incredible to me.
The way he spoke about his victims, they weren't people to him." Brown, who is from San Jose, California, had a history of violence against women, including a 1977 conviction in California for assaulting a woman with a knife at a shopping center. He also served 7 years - the minimum sentence - for assaulting another woman in Oregon in 1984.
Source: AP
Published Sept 10 2010
