Summary

On July 15, the state Supreme Court released its decision in a case challenging the way that King County conducts inquests. An inquest is an administrative, fact-finding inquiry into the causes and circumstances of a death at the hands of law enforcement officers.

Story

With the Washington State Supreme Court's ruling on King County's inquest process, King County Executive Dow Constantine issued the following statement:

"Today’s ruling affirms the core tenets of our inquest process: fairness, accountability, and transparency. With this clarity from the Supreme Court, we can move forward to provide the people of King County with the overdue reforms to the inquest process we sought three years ago.

"I set out to change the status quo – to take steps toward justice and accountability in a system that has for too long been imbalanced against the victims of state violence. Today’s unanimous court ruling has affirmed what I said when I issued my executive order in 2018: a reformed inquest process will provide families, law enforcement officers, and community members with greater transparency and accountability."

Relevant links

• King County Inquest Program
• Washington Supreme Court ruling

For more information, contact:

Chase Gallagher, Executive Office, 206-263-8537