Puyallup man accused of missing sentencing hearing

Earlier this year, a Pierce County judge denied the man’s requests for alternative sentencing to reduce or avoid prison time in three criminal cases to which the man had pleaded guilty, opting instead to sentence him to more than four years in prison.

The 36-year-old Puyallup man who appeared before Superior Court Judge Karena Kirkendoll on May 31 found another way to avoid punishment: walk away.

After Kirkendoll sentenced him to four years in prison for possession of stolen cars and illegal possession of a rifle, the defendant left the second-floor courtroom of the County-City Building in downtown Tacoma before the formalities were completed.

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Courthouse surveillance footage showed him leaving the building through a second-floor checkpoint, according to new charges filed June 21 that accuse him of contempt of court and first-degree escape. He then allegedly walked across South 11th Street, got into a black sedan and drove away.

An arrest warrant was issued for the man the same day, but he has not been arrested. Records show his criminal history includes six prior nonviolent felony convictions and more than two dozen prior misdemeanor convictions.

It is unclear how the accused managed to leave the hearing where his sentence was to be announced in the presence of the judge, deputy prosecutor and his defense attorney from the Department of Assigned Legal Counsel.

The accused was out of custody on bail ahead of his trial date. A spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office said security is sometimes not present at hearings when the accused 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. The deputies then went out to search for him, but were unsuccessful.

Supreme Court Administrator Chris Gaddis told The News Tribune that Kirkendoll will not be in the office until July 22. He also could not discuss what happened because he did not know much about it.

The defendant’s attorney, Andrew Ricci, declined to comment.

The sentence was imposed in drug court, according to court documents, a treatment court for low-risk offenders that includes treatment for addiction and mental health issues. Participants go through a program that lasts at least 12 months.

Motions for mental health alternative sentences and drug alternative sentences were filed at the defendant’s trial, but records show both were denied by Judge Kirkendoll. Under state law, mental health alternative sentences do not include time in prison. Drug alternative sentences, according to the Department of Corrections, shorten or eliminate solitary confinement in exchange for participation in treatment. The department says completing treatment reduces the likelihood that a person will reoffend.

The cases in which the defendant was convicted 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 South Hill Mall after a Puyallup police officer saw him start to get into the stolen Kia.

In June 2023, he was arrested in Fife after police received reports of a man walking west on Pacific Highway 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 truck that had been stolen the day before.