Cal Coburn Brown

Brown's attorney went before the board Thursday afternoon to ask that Brown be granted a reprieve until a May court hearing. And then if that if a reprieve is not granted, then Brown's sentence should be commuted to life in prison without possibility of parole because of his mental illness.

The board heard from Brown himself via a 2 1/2 minute phone call, apologizing to the family for murdering 22-year-old Holly Washa 18 years ago, saying there hasn't been "one day since that time that I haven't felt horrible about what I did."

The board also heard from angry family members of Holly, who say they just want closure.

In the end, the board was split 2-2 on whether to recommend a reprieve. Gov. Chris Gregorie will now review their notes and go from there on whether to stay Brown's execution.

Two appeals in Brown's case also were pending Thursday, one before the state Supreme Court and another that was filed Thursday to U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in Seattle.

Brown's lawyers had immediately appealed to the high court Wednesday after Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham denied a stay of execution. They had argued that Washington's procedure for administering lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Emotional Testimony

During the hearing, Holly's family was given the chance to address the board via telephone, all asking that the execution remain on schedule.

"He did it, he knows he did it, and know it's time he paid for it," said Karen Washa, Holly's younger sister.

Her brother, Randy Washa told the board: "As far as I'm concerned, (Brown) doesn't deserve breathing or sucking air."

Holly's father John gave a tearful story: "I love her dearly and I will miss her, and I have no respect for what he did... I always go out to the cemetery to spend time with her to let her know everything's almost coming to an end."

In summary, Holly's youngest sister Becky told the board: "We are looking for conclusion to this situation; we are looking for closure so we can move on and remember my sister and the happy that we had with her so we don't have to remember the bad things that happened to her."

Stay request denied Wednesday

Wednesday, a Thurston County judge denied a stay of execution Wednesday for Brown, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. on Friday for the 1991 rape and murder of a 22-year-old Burien woman.

The prosecutor who put Brown on death row said Thursday he is going to Walla Walla to watch and will be sitting with the victim's family.

"It's very important for them," said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. "They've lived with this horror for 18 years now and this is a big day. I think I need to be there to be their victim advocate

Satterberg said he was relieved when the judge on Wednesday refused to delay the execution.

Constitutional argument

"I think there are some crimes that require you to forfeit your place on Earth," he said. "That's what the death penalty is for."

Brown's lawyers immediately appealed Wednesday's ruling to the Washington Supreme Court, which earlier this week refused to delay the killing on different grounds.

On Wednesday, Brown's attorneys asked Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham to stay the execution, based on an argument that Washington's procedure for administering lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Another Washington death row inmate, Darold Ray Stenson, was recently granted a May hearing in Thurston County Superior Court on the validity of the lethal injection procedure. Wickham's decision would permit Brown to be executed before that issue is settled, irate defense attorneys said.

"It's incredibly shocking and disappointing that the judge has said today that that trial will take place without Mr. Brown because he'll be dead by then," said Jeff Ellis, president of the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Brown's attorneys and the state both filed documents with the state Supreme Court on Wednesday evening, and the high court was expected to rule Thursday.

The attorney general's office argued that the Supreme Court had long held that lethal injection was constitutional, and questioned why Brown was raising the issue at this late date.

"Speculation that the execution policy might cause an unnecessary risk of pain is not sufficient to show a constitutional violation," the attorney general's office wrote.

But Brown's lawyers contended that it would be wrong to execute Brown even as Stenson won a delay by raising the same points.

"Mr. Brown is asking very little from this court, a brief delay of the execution date and an opportunity to present his case," defense attorneys wrote, adding that killing Brown would bring "great disrespect to our legal system."

Earlier in the week, the state Supreme Court rejected Brown's arguments that the death penalty is applied irrationally in Washington and that he should not be executed because he suffers from a mental illness.

Jumped at knifepoint

Brown, 50, is set to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Friday at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. He was convicted of carjacking Holly Washa, of the Seattle suburb of Burien, at knifepoint near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport 18 years ago.

Brown, whose death sentence was overturned by a federal appeals court in 2007 but later reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court, confessed to the woman's torture and murder.

He had been out of an Oregon prison just two months for an attack seven years earlier.

Near the airport, Brown got Washa's attention by pointing to the rear tire of her vehicle, indicating a problem. When the young woman opened her car door to investigate, he jumped in and held her at knifepoint.

For the next 36 hours, Brown robbed, raped and tortured Washa in a motel room, then stabbed and strangled her. Days later, arrested for attacking another woman in California, Brown directed police to Washa's battered body in the trunk of her car.

According to court documents, Brown suffers from bipolar disorder, but was not being treated at the time of the murder. Since 1994, prison staff have prescribed medication to control the condition.

Since 1904, 77 men have been put to death in Washington state. Brown would be just the fifth inmate executed since 1963.

Brown was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder on Dec. 10, 1993, and sentenced to death 17 days later.