Last week I told you about how the Washington State Department of Corrections had made a mistake for 13 years: they released approximately 3,200 inmates in Washington’s prison system early from their sentences due to a “sentencing computation issue.”
I smell a lawsuit coming Inslee’s way…
Well, whatdoyouknow, one of those prisoners accidently released early has been charged with killing his girlfriend in a car crash when he should have been behind bars, MyNorthwest.com reported.The freed man was Robert Jackson, 38, who walked out of prison Aug. 10, four months too soon. He had been convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon and should have been released Dec. 6. Jackson fled from a Nov. 11 wreck in Bellevue that killed his girlfriend Lindsay Hill, 35, who was riding in the car he was driving, according to prosecutors and Department of Corrections officials.
Jackson has been charged with vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run and is being held in jail on $2 million bail, prosecutors said. Apparently Jackson was speeding and impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the accident. In a filing seeking the bail, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Amy Freedheim wrote that Jackson was “a flight risk and a grave danger to the community.”
A message left with Jackson’s attorney was not immediately returned Monday.
Dan Pacholke
Washington State Department of Correction’s Secretary Dan Pacholke said he apologized to Hill’s family on Sunday. “Nothing I can say will bring back Ms. Hill. I deeply regret that this happened,” Pacholke said in a written statement.Governor Inslee called the news “absolutely gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. There is nothing that can right this horrible wrong,” Inslee said in a written statement. “We must make sure nothing like this happens again.”
More than two dozen offenders erroneously released since June potentially need to be arrested and returned to prison because of an error the agency made on calculating sentences. Officials said three of those ex-prisoners had committed new crimes, but they downgraded that number to two on Monday. That number includes Jackson. But don’t hold your breath that number will not increase: Officials also are reviewing records to find any additional offenders who may have committed new crimes.
Read the rest of how they are trying to fix their glitch spin their error here.
DCG