this is actually a pretty good article and fills in a lot of holes... it explains pierce county's unique (and problematic) system of "booking bail" as well as a lot of other facts. i strongly recommend people read this article.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010392869_shootingjustice01m.htmlOver four days in May, Maurice Clemmons' behavior and mental state deteriorated. Family members worried he had gone crazy, that he was verging on collapse. His conduct became so erratic — punching a sheriff's deputy, forcing relatives to strip naked, according to police reports — that authorities eventually charged him with eight felonies, including one count of child rape.
Still, at the end of those four days, Clemmons wound up on the loose — a delusional man with a propensity for violence, who had to escape the grip of authorities.
What happened in those four days — and in the months that followed — reflects a system governed by formula and misguided incentives.
That legal system, both in Arkansas and Washington, failed to account for the entirety of Clemmons' violence and his disdain for the law. Individual crimes, viewed in isolation, trumped a long and disturbing pattern of warning signs.
As a result, Clemmons walked out of jail Nov. 23. A week later, he was on the run again — this time accused of shooting and killing four Lakewood police officers in a Parkland coffee shop, in one of the most horrific crimes in Puget Sound history.
(article continues...)
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