Robert F. Utter

Robert French Utter was an American attorney and jurist from Washington. He served as a King County Superior Court judge from 1964 until his appointment to the Washington Court of Appeals in 1969. In 1971, he was appointed to the Washington Supreme Court, where he served for 23 years, including two years as the chief justice. Utter is known for his opposition to the death penalty. He dissented in two dozen cases on capital punishment while on the court and resigned in 1995 in protest of it. After resigning from the court, Utter taught the first state constitutional law course in Washington State at the University of Puget Sound School of Law and traveled around the world to help developing nations create independent judiciaries. He died in 2014.