Judge Brian Gain Denies Prosecutor's Plea to Keep Arson Suspect Isaiah Kalebu in Jail for Death Threats, Kills Teresa Butz 10 Days Later

UPDATE

According to the Seattle Times, the suspect arrested Friday in Sunday's knife attack in South Park that left a woman dead and her partner wounded was ordered held in jail today on $10 million bail.

It is imperative for each of us to know the judges that sit on benches in courts in our cities and states. Seattle police arrested Isaiah M. K. Kalebu, 23, in Sunday's knife attack in South Park that left a Teresa Butz dead and her partner wounded. Kalebu was also a suspect in a Pierce County fire earlier this month that killed two people, including his aunt, Rachel Kalebu, 62, and a tenant, 57-year-old John E. Jones. This man has reportedly had a history of mental illness and problems with the police. He faces trial next month for threatening to kill his own mother. Here's the outrageous twist to this case -- King County Superior Court Judge Brian Gain, if I can call him that, in the threat case has denied a prosecutor's request to keep him in custody. Thanks to that gross miscarriage of justice, Kalebu is now a suspect in the case involving arson, which led to the death of his aunt, who filed for a protection order against him and forced him to leave her house. It gets worst. Ten days after the Pierce County fire, someone reportedly crawled through an open window at a South Park home, attacked Teresa Butz and her partner. Butz was killed, while her 36 year-old female partner was injured.

Six days before the South Park attack, Kalebu appeared before King County Superior Court Judge Brian Gain for a pretrial hearing at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. He was to go on trial next month on charges that he had threatened to kill his mother last year.

Deputy King County Prosecutor Zac Hostetter asked Gain to remand Kalebu into custody "based on concerns of mental instability and Rachel Kalebu's protection order filed just prior to the arson," according to documents filed in King County Superior Court. Hostetter also cited the Pierce County homicide and arson investigation, and noted that Kalebu had missed an earlier court date. Source: Seattle Times

Why on earth would a judge let this man go? There was clear evidence that he was a public threat. According to police affidavits, he threatened to kill his mother after she reportedly confronted him in March 2008 for not taking his prescribed medicine for "bi-polar and manic-depressive" conditions. According the the affidavits, he reportedly told his mother to "enjoy your last day on earth," before leaving the house. He returned the next day and threw a large rock into the windshield of his mother's car, court papers say, then told her and others at the house, "You're all dead. This is a disgrace and this judge has the blood of Teresa Butz on his hands. He should step down or be forced down from the bench.

Let your voice be heard. Send an email to Judge Gain voicing your disgust with his actions. You may also call his office.

Email: gain.court@kingcounty.gov

Phone: 206-296-9170