[WCADP-list] No death penalty in Jewish Center shooting

[wcadp-list at lists.drizzle.com]

Prosecutors will not seek death penalty in Jewish center shooting

By Gene Johnson, Associate Press
Wednesday, December 20, 2006 . Last updated 10:15 a.m. PT

SEATTLE -- King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng said Wednesday he will not
seek the death penalty against Naveed Haq, the man accused of shooting six
women - one fatally - at a Seattle Jewish center in July, because of the
gunman's long history of mental illness.

Haq, 31, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the death of
Pamela Waechter, 58, director of the Jewish Federation's annual fundraising
campaign, and with five counts of attempted first-degree murder in the
attack at its downtown offices on July 28.

Maleng said he reviewed Haq's mental health records from the past decade and
concluded that they were evidence of a mitigating factor that should
preclude the death penalty, even though he called the shooting "one of the
most serious crimes that has ever occurred in this city."

If convicted, Haq would face life in prison without parole, which is the
only other possible punishment for aggravated first-degree murder in
Washington.

Jewish Federation officials declined to comment Wednesday before a news
conference they scheduled for 4 p.m. PST.

Prosecutors said Haq waited in the vestibule of the downtown Seattle
building until 14-year-old Kelsie Burkum arrived to visit her aunt, Cheryl
Stumbo. He put a gun into the girl's back and told her, "Open the door." He
followed her up the stairs to the second floor, keeping the gun in her back,
and started shooting when one woman tried to call 911. He said he was a
Muslim angry about the war in Iraq and U.S. support of Israel.

The shooting ended when Dayna Klein, then 17 weeks pregnant, persuaded him
to speak with an emergency operator after he had shot her in the arm. He
agreed to surrender, put his two guns down and walked out, hands on his
head.

Klein gave birth to a healthy baby boy last month.

Also injured in the shooting were Stumbo, Layla Bush, Christina Rexroad and
Carol Goldman. Three of the women required lifesaving surgery.

(Link
<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattl
epi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Jewish_Center_Shooting.html> to the
original article)


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