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The King County Prosecutor will no longer seek the death penalty against Michele Anderson, who is accused of killing her family in Carnation.

“Today I am announcing my decision to withdraw the notice of intent to seek the death penalty in the case of state vs. Michele Anderson,” Dan Satterberg said in a Wednesday morning news conference.

He says the death penalty is too powerful of a tool to be used as a plea bargaining chip.

Anderson is charged with six counts of aggravated murder for the 2007 shooting deaths of her parents, her brother and sister-in-law, and their two small children.

Joseph McEnroe, Anderson’s then-boyfriend also charged with aggravated murder, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

McEnroe had told jurors that his former girlfriend was the mastermind behind the killings. He claimed Anderson manipulated him, but prosecutors argued he had every opportunity to back out.