Lowe’s staff got here to acknowledge
William Piccone
by his skinny denims, distinctive gait and posture—and his prolific shoplifting, police say. Over a 97-day spree final 12 months, he allegedly stole from the identical retailer 27 occasions, strolling away with greater than $4,650 in merchandise. Welcome to Seattle, the place impunity reigns.
That’s what
Ann Davison,
Seattle’s newly elected metropolis lawyer, is studying as she acts on a voter mandate to revive order. Her workplace ran the numbers and found that 118 people have been accountable for greater than 2,400 crimes in Seattle over the previous 5 years. Her effort to crack down on the worst repeat offenders is dealing with progressive resistance.
At subject is Ms. Davison’s proposal to exclude prolific criminals from Seattle’s Community Court. In 2019 her predecessor signed an settlement with the Seattle Municipal Court and the Department of Public Defense. Some two dozen courses of misdemeanor instances now go straight to the Community Court, which releases the accused after referring them to assist companies and generally assigning them a life-skills class or neighborhood service.
Theft of as much as $750 in a single incident in Seattle is a misdemeanor. Other crimes that go specific to Community Court embody residential trespassing, possession of instruments for housebreaking or auto theft, and property destruction.
The 2019 settlement contains no eligibility restrictions, so these with critical felony histories qualify. Seattle criminals get 4 tries within the Community Court earlier than they flunk out. Each can embody a number of prices. Repeat offenders see the shortage of penalties as an invite to commit extra crimes.
Since 2017 Mr. Piccone has been charged in some 60 felony instances throughout Washington, and police have referred him for prosecution to the Seattle metropolis lawyer 46 occasions, Ms. Davison’s workplace says. Twenty-two of his most up-to-date instances have been referred to the Seattle Community Court, the place he was turned unfastened, town lawyer’s workplace says.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney, which handles Seattle felonies, has three present instances in opposition to Mr. Piccone for organized retail theft and housebreaking. On a choose’s order Mr. Piccone was launched right into a midway home after receiving detox remedy. A police report reveals that cops responded to a shoplifting name at a Seattle Nordstrom Rack on April 21, the place Mr. Piccone was accused of stealing three pairs of footwear and a pair of pants. On April 28, Mr. Piccone missed a listening to after he was arrested on a number of municipal warrants earlier that day.
Mr. Piccone has pleaded not responsible to a second-degree housebreaking cost and didn’t reply to a message left at a cellphone quantity listed for him in police data. His public defender didn’t reply to our inquiry by deadline.
“With regard to Mr. Piccone, court documents show significant mainstream criminal court involvement predating the creation of community court,” mentioned
Anita Khandelwal,
the director of Department of Public Defense, in a written response to our inquiry.
She continued: “That involvement resulted, at times, in multiple months of incarceration, but it neither ended his involvement with the system nor addressed his unmet needs. Those same documents suggest that Mr. Piccone is experiencing housing instability. Providing him housing is much more likely to promote safety than continued court involvement.”
***
As Ms. Davison seeks to renegotiate the 2019 settlement, she sits throughout the desk from Ms. Khandelwal and Judge
Damon Shadid,
a progressive who oversees the Seattle Community Court. On April 27, Ms. Davison instructed the Seattle Municipal Court that negotiations had reached an deadlock. Is it any surprise?
Ms. Davison has now requested the Seattle Municipal Court to intervene. The courtroom mentioned in an announcement that it was contemplating her proposal and would work “to identify how to move forward together and create a prioritized plan for people whose needs and issues are not being addressed, and have not been addressed historically, by our criminal justice system.”
Here’s hoping the courtroom means the victims of crime, not the criminals.
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Appeared within the May 6, 2022, print version.
Source: www.wsj.com”