OLYMPIA — Wednesday’s scheduled execution of Darold Ray Stenson was canceled Monday evening by the Department of Corrections after the state Supreme Court earlier in the day refused to lift a stay.
If the Sequim bird farmer convicted in 1994 of two murders is executed in the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, it won’t happen until at least 90 days from now.
Stenson was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
But late-November legal maneuvers in Clallam County Superior Court in Port Angeles and federal court in Yakima brought two separate stays of execution last Tuesday.
The state Supreme Court earlier Monday refused to lift the Clallam County judge’s stay on Monday, prompting the Department of Corrections’ cancellation.
Stenson, 56, was convicted in 1994 in the shooting deaths of his wife, Denise, and business partner, Frank Hoerner, at his exotic bird farm near Sequim on March 25, 1993.
The state high court voted unanimously Monday to deny Clallam County’s request to vacate Superior Court Judge Ken Williams’ stay of execution, but allowed county prosecutors to renew their efforts before the trial court in three months.
State Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens, a former Clallam County District Court judge, recused herself from Monday’s proceedings. Judge Teresa Kulik sat in her place.
“We’re relieved and pleased that the state Supreme Court ruled as it did,” Robert Gombiner, one of Stenson’s Seattle attorneys, told The Associated Press.
Last Tuesday, Williams reversed a decision he made four days earlier on DNA testing.
A new witness, Robert Shinn, came forth on Nov. 21 and claimed he had a conversation with another man about eight years ago while both of them were high on drugs.
Shinn claimed that the second man had told him that Stenson was not guilty and that he had been framed.
Stenson has maintained his innocence throughout the years.
In light of the new evidence, Williams granted the stay and set a DNA review hearing for Jan. 28 in Clallam County Superior Court.
State Assistant Attorney General John Samson said the high court’s ruling does not mean that the execution won’t eventually take place.
“It does not rule invalid the sentence,” Samson said.
“It simply provides additional time to litigate the DNA issue, and it’s the state’s position that the hearings will show the sentence was appropriate and it will be carried out in accordance with state law.”
Federal level
On the federal level in Yakima, Stenson’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko for a temporary restraining order blocking the execution on the grounds that the state revised its procedure for administering lethal injections, without previously announcing any changes or going through a rule-making process.
Suko granted the federal stay.
State Attorney General Rob ¬McKenna asked an appeals court to vacate Suko’s order and allow Wednesday’s execution to proceed as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty on Monday filed a petition for clemency on Stenson’s behalf.
Coalition president Jeff Ellis asked the board to postpone the matter until the two stays are resolved in the courts.
The Supreme Court decision came after the state’s clemency board postponed action in Olympia on Monday morning on whether Stenson should be granted clemency, noting the pending court action.
‘Delay, and further delay’
“If there is anything that can be said, it is not that there is a search for truth going on, but rather a search for delay, and further delay,” Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said at the clemency hearing.
“That is unfortunate.”
Prior to Monday’s state Supreme Court ruling, prison officials were preparing for the execution to go forward as scheduled.
The state Department of Corrections changed the execution time from 12:01 a.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate late appeals.
“We have a responsibility to ensure the death penalty is lawfully applied and that we are prepared to carry out the sentence in a dignified, professional manner,” Washington State Penitentiary Superintendent Stephen Sinclair said in a Monday statement.
Ten years ago, a judge granted a stay for Stenson six weeks before his scheduled execution.
If Stenson’s current stays are dissolved, he would be the first inmate put to death in Washington since James Elledge in August 2001.
Eight men currently sit on Washington’s death row.
Since 1904, 77 men have been executed in Washington.
No woman has ever been sentenced to death in the state.
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Associated Press writers Rachel La Corte in Olympia and Shannon Dininny in Yakima contributed to this report.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
