Usually, when we talk about cashless bail, we’re talking about suspects who go on to commit murders after they’re released — not the ones already accused of killing one innocent bystander and shooting six other people (including a child) in the downtown area of a major city during rush hour.
But not in Seattle, where it looks like the judges let everyone out
.
Note that this is one case where the prosecutor at least tried to keep the accused perp in jail, which is
more than you can say for a lot of jurisdictions nowadays
:
A King County judge granted pre-trial release to a man accused of killing one person and shooting six others in the Jan. 2020 mass shooting in downtown Seattle. That means William Tolliver could walk out as soon as today, though he is still currently in jail as of this reporting.
While he awaits trial, Tolliver will have to wear an ankle bracelet and live with his grandmother, thanks to this ruling, which the Seattle Times attributes to Chief Criminal Judge Karen Donohue. Tolliver has not yet been convicted of this crime, which caused one death and six injuries. But he has a history of violating court orders and a rap sheet that includes illegal gun possession. Also, the evidence against him in this crime is at least sufficient to justify holding him as a danger to the community and a flight risk — after all, he ran as far as Southern Nevada after the 2020 shooting. As King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesman Casey McNerthney put it:
“If you are charged with murder in the first degree, and six counts of assault in the first degree, and have shot victims at random, you absolutely should be held reasonably in jail, and that’s what we argued for. We argued that this person is a danger to the community because of his behavior and because of the previous inability to follow court orders…We also brought up to the judge that he fled to Vegas, and that’s a big concern too.”
Another news source
quoted McNerthney pointing out that Tolliver has “a half dozen” domestic violence offenses on his record. But in the era of cashless bail for everyone, it appears that even repeat criminals accused of mass shootings have to be released.
You wonder why mass shootings happen? It’s not because people exercise their right to own guns. It’s because people like Tolliver are put back on the street even when there’s a chance to keep them in traction. The fact that a DA in as woke a jurisdiction as King County, Washington, recognizes the danger speaks to just how egregiously the judge in this case has acted.
