WA Activists Call for Legal Reform Because Officers Not Charged in Fatal Shooting

Washington’s unique law regulating police use of deadly force is once again facing criticism following the state attorney general’s decision Thursday not to charge police officers who fatally shot a man in Pasco last year.

Several supporters of Initiative 873 — which would alter the state’s “malice” law that some argue gives immunity to police who use deadly force — gathered at the Capitol on Monday to argue Attorney General Bob Ferguson might have prosecuted the officers who shot Antonio Zambrano-Montes to death in 2015 if not for the statute.

Ferguson’s office spent a year reviewing Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant’s decision not to charge the three officers, at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee.

Ferguson agreed with Sant that there was insufficient evidence to convict the three officers under a Washington law that requires proof officers acted with “malice” and without “good faith” to convict, the Tri-City Herald reports.