That the matter would eventually settle the way it has was never in doubt. With all that was at stake for the families, Ridgway has always held the cards to avoid execution; and one cannot blame him or his attorneys for playing those cards, nor the prosecutor for having to go along. So my purpose is not to criticize the process, which brought Ridgway to his guilty pleas. It is rather to exhort the citizens of Washington to accept the reality that the death penalty as a response to any criminal behavior no longer has validity and should be repealed, because it is impossible to administer with justice and fairness.

Simply put, if the greatest mass murderer in United States history has been able to avoid the death penalty because he has "something to sell," then executing a lesser perpetrator because he has nothing to sell makes a mockery of all reasonable notions of justice.

We are a nation of laws, ideally applied fairly and proportionally; but we have 50 different death-penalty laws, all of which have different criteria of application. Whether or not to charge or pursue the death penalty is left entirely up to elected prosecuting attorneys, who are often driven by political, social or financial constraints; or, as in this case, circumstances which cause the prosecutor to back down.

Gross numbers of executions are being carried out in some states or regions of the country. An alarming number of convictions have been found to be wrong, and the death penalty is unfairly inflicted upon the poor, minorities and the under-represented. There is simply no way the death penalty statute can be administered fairly. There are too many variables and inconsistencies to allow any person interested in justice to support.

With its repeal, we would stop its inequitable application, the unconscionable costs associated with its administration, and the endless appeals. There is perhaps a risk that by giving up the death penalty, we would surrender leverage we might have against a Gary Ridgway to reveal the details of what he did, but that is a small price to pay for getting rid of that part of the criminal code that mocks our notions of justice under the law.