Why the alleged killer of 80-year-old dogwalker was free despite 8 felony convictions

The man accused of killing an 80-year-old dogwalker in a carjacking Tuesday has a lengthy criminal history in Washington much before the alleged attack in Seattle’s Madison Valley neighborhood, according to state records.

State records show Jahmed Haynes, 48, was previously convicted of vehicular homicide, drug possession, car thefts, robbery, an attempted prison escape and custodial assault – a charge often applied to inmates who have attacked correctional officers.

Haynes’ criminal history expanded Wednesday when police announced his latest arrest: Accusing him of killing Ruth Dalton, 80, stealing her blue Subaru and stabbing to death her small dog before leaving the canine in a recycling bin at Brighton Playfield.

Haynes was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree assault and animal cruelty Friday afternoon. He also was denied bail.

Earlier coverage: Arrest made in ‘horrific’ killing of beloved 80-year-old Seattle dog walker and dog

Rumors swirled around the man’s identity, which KIRO Newsradio had chosen to withhold until prosecutors formally charged him. Speculation ran rampant on social media of why a man with eight prior felony convictions was not already in prison, with some users and media personalities blaming Democratic state leadership for the man’s freedom threatening public safety.

But a new batch of state criminal records obtained by KIRO Newsradio showed Washington courts steadily increased the severity of the man’s penalties over the years with each subsequent conviction, rising to two consecutive sentences of five years’ prison time each for the attempted prison escape and custodial assault.

Timeline of suspect’s criminal history

The earliest record of Haynes’ criminal history in Washington appeared to be an arrest for taking a motor vehicle without permission around August 1991. He was 15 years old at the time and sentenced to 13 weeks in confinement.

Approximately a year-and-a-half later in 1993, the suspect, who lived in Seattle prior to his arrest, was convicted of vehicular homicide for killing Eric Berge in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Court records obtained by KIRO Newsradio showed Haynes, 17 at the time, ran a red light, driving over the sidewalk at Broadway and East Madison Street.

He crashed into the driver’s side of Berge’s car, ejecting Berge more than 100 feet, prosecutors wrote in the court documents. Berge was declared dead at the scene, and the suspect reportedly ran to a cab driver to take him to a nearby youth detention center at 1211 East Alder St. Police brought witnesses to that site, confirmed Haynes’ identity and arrested him. Police wrote the man told an officer he had been running from someone before crashing. Haynes was later found to have had a 0.12 percent blood-alcohol level by staff at Harborview Medical Center.

According to a state criminal history report, Haynes was sentenced to 34 months in prison for vehicular homicide.

On March 24, 1995, he was arrested on a drug charge, later convicted and sentenced to more than four years in prison, the report read.

Four years later, on June 3, 1999, criminal history records stated Renton police arrested Haynes in connection with a robbery and car theft investigation. He was convicted of first-degree robbery and taking a motor vehicle without permission in the fall of 1999. His sentence appeared to once again escalate in severity as the report showed a judge handed him more than seven years in prison.

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While serving that sentence, criminal records state Haynes tried to escape a prison in 2003 in Snohomish County, attacking a correctional officer with a 12-inch piece of metal that had been sharpened. He was convicted of first-degree escape and two counts of custodial assault, the report read. The punishments for those crimes were three consecutive sentences of five years each for a total of 15 He also had to complete the remainder of his original seven-year sentence.

(King County prosecutors noted the attempted escape and custodial assault actually happened in 2003, despite the statewide crime report showing 2005.)

According to a KIRO Newsradio analysis of Haynes’ sentences, he would have been released from prison around 2022. No indication of a shortened sentence has been found.

Why did Washington’s 3-strike law not keep Haynes in prison?

Prosecutors addressed this question in an email to media outlets, writing, “While a person may have eight prior felony convictions, Washington State’s three strikes law, or Persistent Offender Accountability Act, only applies in limited circumstances. Property crimes and other non-violent felonies, as defined by lawmakers, do not count as strike offenses under state law.”

Under Washington law, anyone convicted three times of what the law defined as “most serious offenses” would be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of release. The law stated those offenses only count toward the three strikes if the defendant is convicted as an adult and the offenses are done under three separate instances.

Despite having convictions of vehicular homicide and first-degree robbery – both of which appear to fall under the law’s definition of “most serious offenses” — it appears Haynes, the suspect in Tuesday’s carjacking, did not trigger the third strike.

More from Sam Campbell: FBI arrest two Snohomish men accused of Jan. 6 attack on Capitol police

King County prosecutors confirmed to KIRO Newsradio that although other forms of assault may be considered a strike, a custodial assault conviction is not what state lawmakers consider a “most serious offense.” Every other felony conviction on Hanyes’ state criminal record is considered non-violent or property crimes, prosecutors said.

“A person could theoretically have multiple convictions for stealing cars – or other crimes that are not considered a ‘most serious offense’ by state lawmakers – and that person would have no strike offenses as defined by state law,” Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said.

If Haynes is convicted of the crimes he was charged with Friday, it would constitute a third strike under state law. However, other factors, such as mental health, may arise during a potential trial and could impact how a judge would rule in sentencing, officials told KIRO Newsradio.

Sam Campbell is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Sam’s stories here. Follow Sam on X, or email him here.

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