A Thurston County judge rejected the way Washington lawmakers voted to make it easier to prosecute police for negligent shootings.
Lawmakers in March approved the measure, which was intended to end years of wrangling over a previous state law that made it nearly impossible to hold officers criminally liable.
But the way lawmakers changed the law was dubious. They were faced with an initiative signed by nearly 360,000 voters. Under the state Constitution, the Legislature must pass such initiatives as written or send them to the ballot.
In this case, lawmakers passed the initiative — Initiative 940 — as well as a law to amend it with changes that were supported by both police groups and activists.
The maneuver prompted a lawsuit by frequent initiative sponsor Tim Eyman. The Seattle Times reports that Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller agreed Friday the Legislature's actions were unconstitutional. She ordered I-940 be put on the November ballot.
"This is one of those rare occasions where the Constitution said you can't do this thing, and they did it anyway," said Eyman.
Eyman's victory was a defeat for Andre Taylor and Katrina Johnson. Taylor lost his brother, Che Taylor, in an officer-involved shooting in 2016, and Johnson lost her cousin, Charleena Lyles, in a 2017 officer-involved shooting. Both say they have been working with the group, De-Escalate Washington, to push for police accountability.
Taylor said it took a lot of compromise with law enforcement groups to pass the deadly force measure.
"To have done that was historic. I mean that's not going on anywhere in the country. That's going on here. And so, I think that was the most disappointing thing to me," said Taylor.
Johnson says the judge's decision stripped away hard work.
"I was really disappointed, and it was hard to contain my emotions," said Johnson. "Ultimately, lives could be in jeopardy with this law not going into effect."
Taylor says an appeal is underway. He is also confident I-940 will pass if it's on the ballot. He adds that De-Escalate Washington was able to compromise with law enforcement groups before, and he hopes to work with those groups again as he pushes for police accountability.
KING 5's Natalie Swaby and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
