Hide Article Text (OCR)
Death Penalty Upheld By State High CourtOLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -Tbe State Supreme Court, imacirnoosly coofijming itsthree-year-old ruling that the death penalty is m cruel and unusual punishment, Thursday upheld the conviction and sentencing of John Thomas Music.Music, who was 19 at the time, was sentenced to hang {or the fatal shooting of Traice Walters, 15, on a Seattle streetea Jan. n, 1569.Music’s attorneys, la their appeal from King County's Superior Court, contended among other things that the death penalty violates the prohibition in the U.S. Constitution against cruel and unusual punishment.la October, 1968. turning down an appeal by Leodis Smith from his death sentence in the slaying of two Seattle residents, the state’s high-court rejected a similar argument,“We note that this issue is presently before tbe United States Supreme Court.’’ Justice Robert C. Finley observed in Thursday’s opinion. ‘'However, we are presently disposed to reaffirm the reasoning and result expressed in the Smith decision.”The Walters south was shct twice in the back with a .22 caliber rifle as he attempted toget away from four youths Li automobile. The youth's hadpulled alongside Walter* aaj g companion on a city street.In upholding Mask’s cop. vidico, the court also held that Superior Court Judge Theodore S. Turner acted properly in excluding prospective jurors afterfully determining that tbeycould not, under any drctra-stances, vote for the death oea-ally.It held that juries may «. stitutkoaBy be given tbe power to decide on imposition of the death sentence and that they need not be given guidelines for ; doin| so. « upheW, as it has b 1 previous_ cases, the system of a single trial on the twin issues of guilt or innocence and of the penalty.
Newspaper Details
Centralia Daily Chronicle
Centralia, Washington, US
Thu, Sep 30, 1971
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
WA, USA 05 Dec 2019
Other Publications Near Centralia, Washington
Centralia Daily Chronicle Examiner
Centralia Daily Chronicle
Centralia News Examiner
Centralia Weekly Chronicle
Centralia Chronicle Advertiser
