MONROE — Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe won’t seek the execution of a mentally ill inmate who is accused of stomping another prisoner to death.
Prosecutors in July charged Benjamin Cory Price with aggravated murder. He is accused of attacking Gordon Powell, a 45-year-old Centralia man who was serving time for stealing alcohol. Powell died of a traumatic brain injury about a week after the May 9 prison beating.
Price, who has a history of assaulting other inmates, was serving a 12-year sentence for the 2006 strangulation death of his girlfriend.
He confessed to the killing two years after hiding the woman’s body. Price claimed she was putting demons in his head. He was convicted of manslaughter after a lengthy stay at Western State Hospital.
Price and Powell were being housed inside the Special Offender Unit at the Monroe Correctional Complex.
Powell was walking back to his cell from dinner when Price, 35, allegedly knocked him to the ground with a single punch. He outweighed Powell by about 40 pounds. Video reportedly shows Price repeatedly kicking Powell in the head. The attack lasted about nine seconds.
The defendant allegedly told detectives that deceased man used telepathy to advise him that if assaulted Powell, Price would finally be allowed to talk to police and a lawyer.
A lawyer for Powell’s family has questioned why Price wasn’t in segregation given his severe mental health issues and past assaultive behavior toward at least one other inmate. Price attempted to strangle his cellmate in 2011, claiming the man was the devil.
Under the law, killing someone inside a prison can be considered an aggravating factor, opening the door for additional sanctions. Aggravated murder is the only charge in Washington where capital punishment is an option.
Roe said that he chose not to seek the death penalty “due to some evidence of delusions suffered and mental illness of the defendant.”
“I don’t think either of those things are significant enough to constitute a defense to the charge, but (I) did certainly take them into account in deciding not to seek the death penalty,” he added.
The prosecuting attorney in 2011 sought the execution of a Washington State Reformatory inmate who was convicted of killing Monroe corrections officer Jayme Biendl. A jury sentenced Byron Scherf to death. He is among nine men on the state’s death row. The convicted rapist’s conviction and sentence are pending appeal.
Gov. Jay Inslee imposed a moratorium on state-sanctioned executions not long after taking office. He said the use of the death penalty is “unequally applied” across the state, and sought by county prosecutors with more resources.
The state’s Association of Prosecuting Attorneys recently announced that it will urge lawmakers to put a referendum on the ballot this year asking voters to decide whether Washington should retain the death penalty.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
