• The Washington Supreme Court has unan­i­mous­ly adopt­ed high­er stan­dards for death penal­ty attor­neys after a 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer news series revealed that 20% of the defense attor­neys who han­dled cap­i­tal cas­es in the state had been, or were lat­er, dis­barred, sus­pend­ed or arrest­ed. The reforms, enact­ed by the Court under Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, require Washington judges pre­sid­ing over death penal­ty cas­es to appoint defense attor­neys who have been screened by a high court com­mit­tee, or to offer an accept­able excuse for not doing so dur­ing a manda­to­ry hear­ing. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 7, 2002).