Harger: A killer. Medium to high risk. Questioned about arson 3 times. 2 states had his file. Hundreds of homes in Spokane are gone

The situation in Spokane is massive. Three fires have incinerated more than 850 homes and buildings, and the count is still climbing.

The situation in Spokane is heartbreaking. Each of those homes had a family who lost everything. Their pets. Their belongings. Their family heirlooms. Gone. Ash.

The situation in Spokane is hard to believe. A man has been arrested and is being held on suspicion of starting the biggest of those three fires. Formal charges are expected soon. He’s being held on $1 million bail.

He’s accused, not convicted. He gets his day in court like everyone else, and that presumption belongs to him same as it belongs to you and me.

That man served ten years in an Arizona prison for killing his dad. Killing his own father after he became upset over being told to do the dishes.

His mother could only call him ‘the defendant.’ The psychological evaluation said medium to high risk. Two states had the file

His mother was so distraught, according to court records obtained by KXLY, she could only refer to him as “the defendant” in pre-sentencing paperwork. Not his name. Not after what he did.

That same paperwork had a psychological evaluation. They knew. It’s written right there. Medium to high risk to reoffend. A lack of social skills. Mental health issues. They knew. That was Arizona.

He gets out of prison and hits the road. He’s still on probation when he moves to Washington in 2020. He gets reprimanded several times for not complying with his probation officer’s directives. And the mental health evaluation the court ordered? For the man who shot his father? It appears it never happened.

No matter. A judge let him walk off supervision anyway. Released from probation in December 2023.

The situation in Spokane is a paperwork failure.

He’d been questioned about arson 3 times. No arrest either time

There’s this line in the KXLY story. The last line. About his arrest for arson this week.

“Court records show it’s at least the third time he’s been questioned about arson in the last year.”

The last year.

Last summer, Washington officers contacted him about two fires, including a suspicious one near his own house. No arrest either time.

A killer. Serious psychological issues. Medium to high risk to reoffend. Questioned about arson three times.

The situation in Spokane is infuriating.

Most people with mental illness are no danger to anyone. This is about the identifiable few who are

Let me be careful here, because it matters. Most people living with mental illness are no danger to anyone. This is about the small, identifiable few who are. Identifiable because it’s written in the file. His file said medium to high risk. His file said the evaluation was ordered. Nobody read the file and acted on it.

There’s an entire system built for exactly this handoff, for supervising someone who serves time in one state and moves to another. It has rules. It has staff. It had this man’s file. Arizona had him and stopped watching. Washington took him in and had no mechanism to ask what happened to the evaluation.

Two states. One file. And hundreds of families are sorting through ash.

I don’t know what the solution looks like. But letting him walk wasn’t it

I’m at a loss for what the answer looks like, after prison but before the fires. But just letting him be doesn’t cut it. Not for him. Especially not for all those families who will suffer the rest of their lives because two states didn’t watch this guy like a hawk.

A convicted killer, considered a big risk to reoffend. Questioned multiple times about arson before last weekend. Arrested with a fanny pack full of waterproof matches and a butane lighter. Just slipped through the cracks.

If this man is convicted, there is no legal prison sentence in Washington that will ever feel just.

The situation in Spokane is broken.

The situation in Spokane didn’t have to happen.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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