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Page A~14 Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020
Escape; Hartwell draWs new charge for escape Tuesday
continued from page A-1
State Patrol, reportedly heading north
from the courthouse to the closed-off
wooded trails above the Shelton Tim-
berland library in the 700 block of West
Alder Street. Later that day, Judge
Amber Finlay issued two $50,000 war-
rants for Hartwell s arrest, one for fail-
ure to appear in each case scheduled
for that day.
Early this week, sources indicated
to the Shelton-Mason County Journal
that authorities believe Hartwell could I
have initially escaped to a Belfair resi
dence prior to his capture Saturday in
Grapeview.
We ended up getting (Hartwell)
into custody with some really good
police work, Ryan Spurling, Mason
County Sheriffs Of ce chief criminal
deputy of patrol operations told the
Journal. It was some great teamwork
between all the law enforcement agen
cies in the county, who assisted by hit-
ting the streets and gathering informa-
tion.
Social media was one of our meth
ods of gathering information, and even-
tually it was just a matter of chasing
down leads until we found out exactly
where he was.
According to Spurling, Hartwell was
at rst uncooperative with instructions
from law enfocement at the time of his
apprehension. But Spurling said that
through stern encouragement from
(Sheriffs Of ce) K 9 Caliber, he was
arrested without further incident.
Hartwell, originally scheduled to
make an initial court appearance Mon-
day, had his hearing postponed until
Tuesday due to illness. When asked
Monday about Hartwell s condition by
Finlay during the Superior Court crim-
inal docket, Mason County Chief Pub
lic Defender Peter Jones told the court
he believed Hartwell s illness was not
communicative.
Hartwell was brought to court Tues-
day in handcuffs and shackles by two
Sheriffs Of ce corrections deputies
for a warrant identi cation hearing
and for arraignment on a new charge
of second-degree escape from custody.
However, before the hearings could be-
gin, Finlay recused herself in favor of
Judge Daniel Goodell, after Finlay re-
alized that she was on the bench in the
Reaction: Local of cials say more action is neeeded
continued from page A-1
personnel at a Grapeview residence
following his escape from custody.
According to a Sheriffs Of ce dec-
laration of probable cause to charge
Hartwell with second-degree escape
from community custody, Hartwell
was scheduled for warrant identi ca-
tion hearings Jan. 7 in Mason County
Superior Court in downtown Shel-
ton in two 2019 cases in which he s
charged with second degree theft of
property, second-degree burglary, res-
idential burglary and theft of a motor
vehicle.
In accordance with a 2018 state
Court of Appeals ruling, defendants
not considered a ight risk, but can t
be seen in court with restraints be-,
cause it is a violation of their c0nsti~
tutional rights. Hartwell s handcuffs
and shackles were removed following
transport between Mason County Jail
and the next-door courtroom. Eye-
witnesses say that once his case was
called, Hartwell ran from the jury box
of the second- oor main courtroom,
evaded c0rrections deputies and court-
house private security personnel, then
escaped on foot, having left his jail-is
sued sandals behind in the courtroom
After eluding an original search
by personnel from the Mason County
4. .
g.
(h
Donald Frankli Hartwell Jr seated, appears in handcuffs and shackles
Tuesday morning in Mason County Su-
perior Court in Shelton. Hartwell pleaded not guilty to a charge of
second-degree escape from custody from a
week prior, when he allegedly fled the courtroom and was on the lose for
four days before his capture Saturday
morning in Grapeview by Mason County Sheriff s Office personnel. Journal
photo by Michael Heinbach
courtroom as Hartwell was suspected
of committing his escape.
During the brief recess between
judges, Hartwell rose to his feet from
his seat at the defendant s table,
told corrections staff he felt sick and
couldn t continue the hear'mg. But jail
deputies quickly assisted Hartwell
back to his seat Without force, and
Goodell resumed the hearing.
There, Goodell formally charged
Hartwell with escape - to which
Hartwell pleaded not guilty - and set
$10,000 bail in the matter. The escape
Sheriffs Of ce, Shelton Police De-
partment and the Washington State
Patrol, Hartwell reportedly traveled
north to the woods above the Shel-
ton Timberland Library on the cor-
ner of West Alder and North Seventh
Streets. At about 5:15 a.m. Saturday,
Sheriffs Of ce deputies took Hartwell
into custody at a Grapeview residence
off Grapeview Loop Road.
Our deputies did an absolutely
outstanding job following leads in or-
der to bring him into custody, Ryan
Spurling, Sheriff s Of ce chief crimi
nal deputy of patrols said Tuesday
morning.
On Monday in Mason County Supe-
rior Court, it was business as usual,
and to the casual observer not much
appeared to have changed regarding
how jail or prison inmates are trans
ported or seen in court.
Personnel working in the court-
house Tuesday from Paci c Security,
the Everett-based private rm con-
tracted by Mason County to provide
courthouse and additional county
campus security through August, told
the Journal that no new security mea-
sures had been enacted since Hart-
well s reported escape.
I think that they (the Sheriff s Of-
ce) did a really good job right from
the start, ,Trask said. They didn t
charge carries a top sentence of ve
years in prison and/or a $10,000 ne.
Deputy Mason County Prosecutor
Corey Thompson then argued to in-
crease bail in Hartwell s previous two
matters to $50,000 eachfor a total bail
amount of $110,000. In those cases,
Hartwell is charged with second-de-
gree theft from an early-November ar-
rest, and residential burglary, second-
degree burglary and theft of a motor
vehicle in a February incident.
Mr. Hartwell may have some ele
ments of being a ight risk and bond
give up, were very diligent and per-
severed in order to keep our citizens
safe.
She added there s no reason for the
Board of Mason County Commission-
ers to try to step in and initiate chang
es in jail or courthouse policies.
I trust our Sheriffs Of ce and
the corrections deputies that they ll
help us resolve any issues that might
arise concerning the safety of citizens,
courthouse employees and Sheriffs
Of ce staff, she said.
Mason County Jail Chief Kevin
Hanson said he s making a push
to Change the law regarding unre-
strained inmates in the courtroom.
may be appropriate, Jones said. But
he s not a risk to the community, and
none of the offenses in any of these
cases are violent. He committed no as-
sault on the way out of the courtroom.
He s plainly not a risk to the commu-
nity
Goodell set bail at $30,000 for each
of Hartwell s two previous cases, then
scheduled him for hearings in all three
matters for Feb. 3.
As of Wednesday morning, Hartwell
remained in Mason County Jail on
$70,000 bond in total.
r
gal marijuana growing operation in
the Belfair area, several Sheriff s Of-
ce detectvies noted their displeasure
with the court ruling that allowed
Hartwell to be seen in court unre
strained.
Moody, whose department is con-
tracted with the county to house
City of Shelton inmates, echoed oth-
ers gratitude for the work that led to
Hartwell s most recent apprehension
as well as displeasure with the Court
of Appeals ruling. r
The courts have literally set
boundaries on things that are hav-
ing an effect on public safety, and the
safety of the deputies and of cers in-
Mark my words, this isn t going 'volved, he said. You ve
got a handful
to be the last time something like
this is going to happen statewide, be-
cause that s just what happens when
you have inmates without restraints.
'You re providing them with an oppor-
tunity, Hanson said.
Hanson also told the Journal that
he s asked Mason County Chief Dep-
uty Prosecuting Attorney Tim White
head to look into additional inmate
controls that might not be considered
restraints by a judge, such as remote
controlled electronic devices applied to
wrists or ankles. ,
After returning'Tuesday to Shelton
from shutting down a suspected ille
of (law enforcement) agencies running
a Code 3 to come nd antescapee. That
puts everybody at risk.
Moody said he s as comfortable as
ever in sending his inmates to the
Shelton detention facility. However,
he noted that in consecutive years,
the county defeated tax measures that
were proposed to improve public safe-v
ty efforts.
Unfortunately, the public safety
tax was voted down, Moody said. I
understand that the people spoke and
said that they don t want to pay any
new taxes into it. So we ve got to get
creative.