OCA-Greater Seattle Support I-873

OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates – Greater Seattle Chapter supports Yes on 873, Not This Time! and Washington for Good Policing. In light of the countless tragic shooting incidents around the country involving police officers, we believe that Washington State hold their police officers accountable when deadly force is used. We believe that amending the standard used to prosecute police officers would effectively give prosecutors the opportunity to justifiably charge and try police officers who shoot and kill civilians. We encourage our members to become informed about this initiative, and to show their support by signing the petition which would put Initiative-873 on the 2017 ballot.

I-873 proposes to amend the language of the Washington State law, RCW 9A.16.040, by removing the “without malice and with a good faith belief” clause in the statute. For a police officer to be held criminally liable for using deadly force, current Washington State law requires prosecutors to prove that the officer acted without malice and with a good faith belief that their deadly force was justified. Because malice is a state of mind, it is incredibly difficult if not impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the burden for criminal prosecutions. We believe that the removal of this clause will give the prosecutor room to try the case using the available evidence, without trying to overcome a near impossible burden. This will lead to a more just and fair trial.

Please consider signing the petition to put I-873 on next year’s ballot. The link provided below will show local signature signing events in your local area. Yes on 873 needs 350,000 signatures by December 30, 2016 to put I-873 on the ballot.

http://www.yeson873.com/events