Don Anthony White, a Black man convicted of murdering two people in Seattle in 1959, was sentenced to death on July 18, 1960, by the King County Superior Court. A series of demonstrations supporting clemency for Mr. White led to a retrial in 1966 where he was again found guilty as charged and was sentenced to serve two concurrent terms of life imprisonment. The presiding state Supreme Court justice in the retrial was Robert "Bob" Utter (1930-2014), who in 1995 resigned his position in protest over what he saw as a consistent failure by the court to adequately consider proportionality in weighing capital sentences.

In this image a group of picketers campaign against the scheduled March 25 execution of Don White. Later that day Albert Rosellini (1910-2011), governor of the state of Washington, granted a 30-day stay of execution so the court could evaluate a petition for rehearing. Standing on the right edge of the frame is a woman who is unidentified but strongly resembles Joan Baez (b. 1941), here singing and playing the guitar as part of the demonstration. Ms. Baez, already a well-know musician and political activist at this time, was in the region for a March 19 sold-out performance at Seattle's Music Hall Theater.

Caption information sources: "White Given 30-Day Stay Of Execution by Governor," The Seattle Daily Times, March 23, 1964, p.1; "Joan Baez Stirs Souls in Concert Here," The Seattle Daily Times, March 20, 1964, p. 22
Caption information source: "The life and death of Robert Utter, former state Supreme Court justice and death penalty opponent," by Ken Armstrong, retrieved from https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/30/no-human-is-wise-enough-to-decide-who-should-die
Caption information source: https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/exe_order/eo_72-08.pdf