One of the nine people on Washington state's death row has died of cardiac arrest, while in a medical facility for a chronic illness, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Dwayne A. Woods, 46, sentenced to death nearly 20 years ago, died Sunday night at the Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, according to the Department of Corrections, which noted that he had been under observation for a chronic illness. The department news release gave no other details about his medical condition.
An autopsy will be performed, the news release said.
Woods, who was in the state prison in Walla Walla, was convicted in June 1997 on two counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the killings of Telisha Shaver, 22, and Jade Moore, 18.
Shaver and Moore were raped and beaten on the head with a baseball bat in a Spokane Valley mobile home in April 1996, according to The Spokesman-Review.
The two women knew Woods, then 25, because he had been dating Shaver's sister.
Gov. Jay Inslee in 2014 announced a moratorium on state executions, saying the way the death penalty is applied is too flawed to let more go forward.
Inslee last week signed a reprieve for Clark Richard Elmore, who had been convicted of raping and killing his girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter, Kristy Ohnstad, in Bellingham in 1995. Elmore will remain in prison for life. With his legal appeals exhausted, Elmore's execution had been scheduled for Jan. 19.
Despite Inslee's moratorium, executions are still part of state law, so any reprieves require that Inslee exercise his authority as governor.
No execution date had been set for Woods.
