Capital Punishment in Washington?

I had no idea Washington had capital punishment until I saw this story in today’s PDN.

Darold Ray Stenson, formerly of Sequim, was convicted in 1994 of two murders the previous year. He’s scheduled to be executed on December 3rd at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

I’m liberal on most issues but I’m in favor of capital punishment. I hadn’t heard of this case before; I didn’t move to this area until September of 2004. I just assumed that there wouldn’t be a death penalty in a liberal state like Washington.