Former Supreme Court Justice Utter dies at age 84

OLYMPIA (AP) — Former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Utter, who served on the high court for 23 years until his opposition of the death penalty led to his resignation, has died at age 84, court officials announced Thursday.

A news release issued by the Administrative Office of the Courts said that Utter, who had been receiving hospice care, had died at his Olympia home Wednesday night.

Utter, who was elected to the King County Superior Court in 1964, was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1968 by then-Gov. Dan Evans. He was then appointed by Evans to the state Supreme Court in 1971 when a vacancy arose. Utter served as chief justice from 1979 to 1981.

Supreme Court Justice Charles Johnson, who served on the court with Utter from 1991 to 1995, wrote in a prepared statement that the “state has lost a champion for justice.”

“Justice Utter will be remembered as a strong proponent of protecting individual rights and for establishing a foundation for basic fairness and equal treatment for all, principles that continue to guide judicial decisions and administration of the justice system today,” he said.

Utter resigned from the high court in 1995 in protest of the court’s handling of death penalty cases.

“I have reached the point where I can no longer participate in a legal system that intentionally takes human life,” Utter wrote in a resignation letter to then-Gov. Mike Lowry.