Opinion ID: 2630721
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: BUSH v. GORE

Text: ś 91 Cross also argues that the statute delegates too much authority to local prosecutors to decide who is eligible for the death sentence. This is a variant of arguments made to this court many times. E.g., Benn, 120 Wash.2d at 667, 845 P.2d 289 (rejecting argument and collecting cases); Rupe I, 101 Wash.2d 664, 683 P.2d 571 (grant of discretion to prosecutors does not result in standardless application); cf. Gregg, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909 (affirming constitutionality of Georgia's death penalty). ś 92 Since we decided these cases, the United States Supreme Court has looked disapprovingly at the various exercises of discretion by county officials in applying state law. See Bush, 531 U.S. 98, 121 S.Ct. 525. In Bush, the Supreme Court halted ballot recounts that would have been done under procedures outlined by the individual counties. The court explicitly stated it was not deciding whether counties could have different standards, but whether a state supreme court with the power to mandate uniformity erred in failing to require uniformity. Id. at 109, 121 S.Ct. 525. While the Supreme Court attempted to severely limit the scope of its holding, Id., it has obvious implications every time state law vests discretion in the hands of county officials. It is clear to us that counties in Washington do have different standards for when they seek the death penalty, given the distribution of cases across the state. ś 93 But we have already found that this prosecutorial discretion does not offend equal protection. [T]he grant of discretion to prosecutors does not result in a standardless death penalty statute. The court may assume that prosecutors exercise their discretion in a manner which reflects their judgment concerning the seriousness of the crime or insufficiency of the evidence. Consequently, the prosecutor's decision not to seek the death penalty, in a given case, eliminates only those cases in which juries could not have imposed the death penalty. We believe that this analysis accurately portrays the function prosecutorial discretion plays in our death penalty statute. This discretion is not unconstitutional. Rupe I, 101 Wash.2d at 700, 683 P.2d 571; accord State v. Campbell, 103 Wash.2d 1, 26, 691 P.2d 929 (1984). ś 94 On the other hand, underlying Bush is the principle that regularity in some things is too important to leave to the discretion of county officials. Reasonably, it is more important to establish regularity in the imposition of the death penalty than the method of recounting ballots. Mistakes made in the former are permanent and irreversible, while mistakes in the latter have only a temporary effect that can be corrected. When this court decided previous cases, this principle had not been so clearly pronounced. E.g., Rupe I, 101 Wash.2d at 700, 683 P.2d 571. ś 95 However, at this time, we decline to apply the principles annunciated in Bush outside of election law. The Supreme Court clearly indicated it did not intend application outside of that narrow realm. Bush, 531 U.S. at 109, 121 S.Ct. 525. There are good reasons to vest this discretion in the hands of local officials in the local area. Cross has not established that doing so here was constitutional error. [14]