Rape cases increasing at alarming rate in King County this year

https://komonews.com/news/local/race-cases-increasing-at-alarming-rate-in-king-county-this-year

SEATTLE — A rape investigation in South Seattle is part of a disturbing surge in sexual assault cases throughout King County.

On Thursday night, officers with the Seattle Police Department swarmed the Aero Motel on East Marginal Way and mobilized the sexual assault unit for a woman who needed help.

“We got called here tonight by multiple 911 callers who reported that there was a naked woman who was holding a gun,” said Det. Valerie Carson. “Officers arrived and contacted the woman and we are now investigating a possible rape."

Police are still searching for the suspect.

“We're seeing a pretty concerning start to the year so far. It's not the trend that we want to see,” said Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Last year, 187 rape cases were taken to court in King County, though that number does not include crimes any crimes committed in the last few weeks of December. Still, it is an increase over 2019, when 117 cases were filed in King County.

.'Historic level' of court backlogs leaves criminals on the King Co. streets

https://komonews.com/news/operation-crime-justice/arrested-suspects-not-facing-charges-as-seattle-jails-become-more-obsolete

There is a reason for that: Courts in King County and Seattle are hemorrhaging.

After a summer of protests, there have been complaints at the lack of prosecution and jail for people accused of resisting arrest, failure to disperse and vandalism.

But the reasons behind why they are not in jail are less about politics and more to do with COVID-19 and the case counts because of an increase in violent crime.

“For example, municipal court is not doing any out of custody arraignments," said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who was once the U.S. Attorney for Western Washington. “Well, you can't start the who criminal process until someone has been arraigned, so we have to fix all parts of it.”

Seattle Municipal Court judges stopped out-of-custody arraignments for social distancing purposes inside courtrooms and the jail in November.

Since then, court records show 525 out of custody cases have not been arraigned.

“We are at a historic level of backlogs," King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg told the King County Council this week. "Normal pre-COVID backlog of felony cases that have been filed but not yet resolved hovered around 3,000. We are probably about 7,000 now and it could be 10,000 before we get back to work in the middle of the summer.”

There is pressure to keep the jail population down because of State Supreme court order and a move by King County Executive to reduce the size of the jail’s population in a money saving move.