Capitol Hill woman's killer sentenced to 35 years

[Old Coot]

Source: SeattlePI.com

The man accused of killing Seattle Sierra Club worker Shannon Harps near her Capitol Hill home has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

James A. Williams, 50, pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder in the New Year's Eve 2007 stabbing. After hearing from Harps' family and friends, King County Superior Court Judge Palmer Robinson on Thursday sentenced Williams to the lengthy prison term.

<snip>

Harps, 31, was stabbed to death in the stairwell of her apartment building. Police later found Williams' DNA on a kitchen knife found nearby, and arrested him shortly thereafter.

Due to an earlier criminal conviction, Williams was living in a home for extremely mentally ill offenders when the attack occurred. A community corrections officer supervising him wrote that Williams "was barely able to hold himself together" the day Harps was stabbed to death.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/406657_Harps28.html

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This sad story makes me wonder if "mainstreaming" extremely mentally ill patients in communities is really in the best interest of the communities or the patients themselves. Mr. Williams had a long history of schizophrenia and violent crime. I think that patients this severe should be institutionalized for their own well-being and the safety of the communities.

[liberalmuse]

1. What a sad and senseless story.

I just finished dealing with a mentally ill neighbor who recently moved out. This story has flashed in my mind many times over the past year. I honestly thought that would be me, and I'm not normally a fearful person when it comes to personal safety.

What a senseless crime. Thank you, Reagan. As a society, the way we deal with our mentally ill is shameful. My neighbor was unable to function, and it was very difficult to watch. We need facilities or rather, communities where the mentally ill can get the support they need. My neighbor would go off his meds and have violent episodes. I can't imagine the hell he went through, but it wasn't easy for anyone living near him, either.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Mentally ill people have low rates of violent crime

But any time a mentally ill person does commit a heinous crime, it's shouted from the rooftops.

The criminally insane, certainly, should be institutionalized. That's a very small number of psychiatric patients, though. Mr. Williams appears to have been one such individual, and it's those patients who are falling through the cracks.

But that's to be expected in a part of the health care community that is chronically short-funded.

--d!

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Seems like he needs to be in a mental institution, not a jail