An alarming entry in the Seattle Police Blotter, and subsequent court action regarding one of the suspects involved in two separate cases, underscores the problem with rising crime in the Jet City, and what isn’t being done to curb it.
The police report says eight people were arrested Aug. 4 in a narcotics operation and one of the suspects was a 16-year-old who turned out to be the same teen arrested in July, at the same location, for also selling fentanyl.
In both cases, the Blotter report noted, the teen suspect was carrying a pistol, which is illegal under Washington law.
An Aug. 13 email from the King County Prosecutor’s Office to members of the media perhaps unintentionally explained the problem with the justice system in King County, and maybe the entire Puget Sound region of Washington State.
“In both cases, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed felony charges immediately and argued that he should remain reasonably in secure detention,” wrote Casey McNerthney, information officer for the prosecutor’s office. “In both cases, the teen was released from juvenile detention by a judge’s order, over the objection of prosecutors.”
In the July 19 incident, the teen suspect was armed with a Ruger P-91, .40-caliber pistol, which police seized. About three weeks later, on the afternoon of Aug. 4, this same teen was armed with a 9mm Glock Model 43 pistol, according to the two different court documents.
“The teen now faces 4 felony charges in ongoing cases filed by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: 2 felony charges for fentanyl and 2 felony charges for illegal gun possession,” McNerthney’s email noted.
The suspect is now on “court-ordered electronic home monitoring,” and is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 25. Under state law, according to McNerthney, prosecutors do not have the option to ask a judge to move these charges to adult court.
Charging documents in both cases are interesting. In the July incident, arresting officers found $373 in various denominations in the teen’s pockets. In the August arrest, he had $246.03 in his pockets. He apparently admitted to selling $300-$400 worth of fentanyl in a day.
Not explained in either charging document was where this teenage drug suspect got the handguns he was carrying. He certainly did not acquire them legally.
His possession of the handguns also demonstrates the continued failure of gun control laws. It’s not because laws are not adequate, but because they are simply ignored by the criminal element, a fact evidently Seattle-based gun prohibitionists don’t understand, or also ignore. Instead, they continue lobbying for more restrictions on law-abiding Washington State gun owners, and are targeting state preemption in order to turn the calendar back 40 years to a time when the state had a mish-mash of sometimes confusing and conflicting local gun ordinances.
