A Pierce County judge rejected a man’s requests for an alternative sentence to reduce or avoid prison time earlier this year in three felony cases he’d pleaded guilty to, opting instead to give him more than four years in prison.
The 36-year-old Puyallup man who came before Superior Court Judge Karena Kirkendoll on May 31 came up with another way to avoid being locked up: walk away.
After Kirkendoll sentenced him to four years in prison for possessing stolen cars and unlawfully possessing a rifle, the defendant walked out of the second-floor courtroom of the County-City Building in downtown Tacoma before his paperwork was completed.
Surveillance video from the courthouse showed him exit the building through the second-floor screening station, according to new charges filed June 21, which accuse him of contempt of court and first-degree escape. He then allegedly crossed South 11th Street, got in a black sedan and drove away.
A bench warrant was issued for the man’s arrest the same day, but he has yet to be apprehended. Records show his criminal history includes six prior nonviolent felony convictions and more than two dozen prior misdemeanor convictions.
It’s unclear how the defendant was able to walk out of his own sentencing hearing in the presence of the judge, a deputy prosecutor and his defense attorney from the Department of Assigned Counsel.
The defendant had been out of custody on bail before the court date. A spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said security sometimes isn’t present for hearings where the defendant is out of custody.
Two sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Kirkendoll’s courtroom about four minutes after the defendant left the courtroom, according to the probable cause document. Deputies then left to search for him but were unsuccessful.
Superior Court administrator Chris Gaddis told The News Tribune that Kirkendoll is out of the office until July 22, and he couldn’t speak on what happened because he didn’t have much knowledge of the incident.
The defendant’s attorney, Andrew Ricci, declined to comment.
The sentencing was part of felony drug court, according to court records, a therapeutic court for nonviolent offenders that includes treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues. Participants go through a program that is at a minimum 12 months long.
Requests for a mental health sentencing alternative and a drug offender sentencing alternative were made at the defendant’s hearing, but records show both were denied by Judge Kirkendoll. According to state law , a mental health sentencing alternative does not include a period of incarceration. A drug offender sentencing alternative, according to the Department of Corrections, reduces or eliminates confinement in exchange for their participation in treatment. The department says completing treatment reduces the likelihood that the person will re-offend.
The cases the defendant was sentenced on stemmed from incidents in Fife, Tacoma, Puyallup and Cle Elum. According to court records, a police officer saw him driving a stolen Chevrolet Geo Prizm in Cle Elum in October 2022 and arrested him when he stopped at a gas station. In March 2023, he was arrested in the parking lot of the South Hill Mall after a Puyallup police officer saw him start to get into a stolen Kia.
In June 2023, he was arrested in Fife after police received reports of a man walking west on Pacific Highway while carrying a rifle under a towel. In October, a Tacoma police officer arrested him after finding him sitting in the driver’s seat of a pickup that had been stolen the day before.
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