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SEATTLE – One week until his scheduled to die for the murder of a Burien woman, Cal Coburn Brown's latest motion for a stay of execution has been submitted to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Brown's execution by lethal injection is set for just after midnight on Sept. 10. He was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder of the torture and death of 22-year-old Holly Washa in 1991.
The Washington state Attorney General's Office says Brown filed the emergency motion Thursday. The motion argues that the team that will conduct the lethal injection is "unqualified." The AG's office says Brown wants the stay until a more thorough investigation of the team's qualifications and experience.
The AG's office has filed a response with the court.
Brown also allegedly filed a petition in the Washington state Supreme Court, arguing his execution will violate both state and federal constitutions. He allegedly claims his death sentence should be reversed because information relating to his bipolar disorder was downplayed during sentencing.
On Tuesday, a federal judge denied an appeal by Brown, who challenged the state's new one-drug protocol for lethal injection, as well as the state Department of Corrections' authority to obtain that drug and the qualifications of the execution team. The judge ruled that other courts had already answered those questions.
Last year, members of the previous execution team resigned, worried their identities could be exposed through the court's examination of their qualifications and experience during a separate appeal of the state's lethal injection protocol. At that time, the state's method of lethal injection was a three-drug cocktail.
The state Supreme Court ruled that legal challenge was moot last month because the state switched to a one-drug system. The court also rejected claims that the state Department of Corrections lacks authority to establish execution policies under current law.
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