Murderer’s Fate Labeled ‘Years Away’ Pirtle’s Appeals Process Continues
After a judge set an execution date for convicted killer Blake Pirtle, lawyers were only certain about one thing Thursday.
Pirtle, 28, won’t be put to death Aug. 6.
That’s the date Spokane County Superior Court Judge Michael Donohue set for the execution, but lawyers on both sides called it unrealistic.
“It’s meaningless,” said defense attorney Joan Fisher of Genesee, Idaho.
“We’re years away … from a conclusion in this case,” said Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Korsmo.
During his trial, Pirtle admitted to the 1992 throat-slashing killings of two young restaurant workers in the Spokane Valley, but argued the bloodshed wasn’t premeditated.
He blamed chronic drug abuse for his sudden seizure inside the Burger King on Argonne Road on May 17, 1992. While robbing the restaurant, Pirtle killed two co-workers: 20-year-old Dawnya Calbreath and 24-year-old Tod Folsom.
Pirtle has been on death row at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla since his conviction in 1993.
His presence in court Thursday offered a stark contrast to the Pirtle of the past: straight, neatly parted hair was scrapped for a shaved head. A goatee cropped up around his mouth. Hints of new muscles pressed against his bright orange jumpsuit.
With feet shackled and hands clasped to a padlocked chain around his waist, Pirtle shuffled into the courtroom in leather slippers and smiled warmly at his teary-eyed sister.
He chuckled with Fisher as she signed his execution order, but avoided eye contact with his victims’ relatives who sat together nearby.
The hearing was over in 11 minutes, and Pirtle left quickly with an escort of armed guards. Less than 30 minutes later, he was on the road again to death row.
Fisher said the Aug. 6 execution date will be lifted when Pirtle begins the next appeals stage. First, he can ask the state Supreme Court for another review of his death sentence. That court already upheld his sentence once.
If the review is denied, Pirtle can appeal that decision in the federal courts.
If that fails, he can start over by filing a habeas corpus petition in the federal system, Fisher said.
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