SEATTLE – The Washington state Department of Corrections announced Thursday an inmate who was mistakenly released early was involved in a deadly shooting in Spokane at the time he should have been incarcerated.
It's the second fatality involving an offender who should have been behind bars at the time of the incident and the latest in the fallout after the DOC announced a computer glitch allowed some 3,200 prisoners to be released before they were supposed to.
"I spoke with Ceasar's mother on the phone yesterday to offer my apologies and condolences; Governor Inslee has also spoken to the mother and offered his apologies and condolences," DOC Secretary Dan Pacholke said.
The DOC says Jeremiah Smith, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Cesar Medina on May 26, 2015. The DOC says it was an attempted robbery that led to Medina's death at Northwest Accessories in Spokane.
Smith was originally incarcerated on August 26, 2010, and released May 14, 2015 – 12 days before he allegedly killed Medina.
Smith's record includes convictions for robbery, burglary, and assault.
"I'm heartsick that this tragedy occurred at all, much less during the time in which Jeremiah Smith should have been incarcerated," Pacholke said.
The other fatality involved Robert Jackson, who has been charged with DUI in a November crash that killed Lindsay Hill, a 35-year-old mother of two.
DOC says it has reviewed cases dating back to June of this year. The computer glitch spanned 13 years.Three felons have committed new crimes since their release and more than 30 offenders had been rearrested.
"I'm very concerned about what we will uncover as we move forward; there is likely to be more crime that has been committed during that window. I can't really speculate on the numbers, but it concerns me deeply," Pacholke said.
Emails revealed the glitch was known back to the DOC back in 2012 when a family of a victim in an an assault case brought it to their attention. The independent investigators looking into this will begin meeting with DOC officials on Monday.
