Challenging Racial Bias and Disproportionality in Sentencing From the Death Penalty to Death in Pris

MCLE Activity ID#1219474. Approved for 1 Ethics Equity credit. "Challenging Racial Bias and Disproportionality in Sentencing From the Death Penalty to Death in Prison" presented by Lila Silverstein.
Lila Silverstein has been an appellate public defender with the Washington Appellate Project since 2006, Lila’s most notable case is State v. Gregory, 192 Wn.2d 1 (2018) (with co-counsel Neil Fox). Lila commissioned a statistical study on race and the death penalty in Washington and argued the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner. In 2018, the Washington Supreme Court agreed and invalidated Washington’s capital punishment scheme.
Apart from Gregory, Lila has handled numerous other cases in the state supreme court, including State v. Saintcalle, 178 Wn.2d 34 (2013) (recognizing pervasive problem of race discrimination in jury selection). Lila wrote significant sections of Washington’s General Rule 37, which provides strong protection against race discrimination in jury selection and is being emulated in other jurisdictions. For her work, Lila has received numerous awards, including the King County Bar Association’s Outstanding Lawyer of the Year Award.
Handout- Brief of Appellant- www.opd.wa.gov...