'It's ridiculous': Judge orders taxpayers to give pile of cash to murder suspect

Alexander Jay

By Laurel Duggan
Daily Caller News Foundation

Alexander Jay, a 40-year-old man who was charged with first-degree murder and two counts of assault, will likely receive more than $36,000 in taxpayer money because he was held in jail rather than being placed in a mental health facility as part of a court order, according to Fox News.

Jay allegedly stabbed a woman and threw another woman down the stairs at Union Station in Seattle, causing broken bones, before beating 31-year-old Brent Wood to death March 3, Fox News reported. A judge ruled that the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has to pay Jay $250 for each day that he is in jail rather than in a mental health facility after he was ordered to receive in-patient care.

Another judge had ordered Jay to receive 3 months of in-patient care at a mental facility in April after deeming him incompetent to stand trial, but there was no room for him at the facility, so he stayed in jail. Western State Hospital expect to have a space available for him Oct. 2, by which point he will be owed $36,750, according to Fox News.

Jay has already been convicted of at least 22 crimes, including domestic violence, first-degree theft, trafficking in stolen goods, possession of a controlled substance and burglary, according to My Northwest.

ICYMI:'He should go to jail for the rest of his life.' Alexander Jay is already charged with violently attacking two women in Seattle. Now he's charged with beating a man to death hours later. He had gotten out of jail 2 weeks before the attacks. @komonews https://t.co/EHhmvzn1L1

— Tammy Mutasa (@TammyKOMO) August 17, 2022

“It’s ridiculous. It’s not right. He shouldn’t be getting money,” Nathan Wood, Brent Wood’s younger brother, told Fox News.

“We oppose payment of these compensatory sanctions because we are taking the right steps and measures to provide these services for our clients awaiting inpatient services. We believe these fines take money out of the very system that is designed to help them and provide them services,” the DSHS told Fox.

The Seattle Police Department and the DSHS did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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