Update: Starkenburg charged in three West Seattle attacks

| Crime | West Seattle news

Just in from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office:

Duane E. Starkenburg, 46, was charged this afternoon with assaulting three women in West Seattle’s Lincoln Park. Prosecutors charged Starkenburg with two counts of Indecent Liberties for allegedly attacking a woman in August and another in December. He is also charged with one count of Attempted Indecent Liberties for the January 25 assault. The defendant was released from jail yesterday after posting bail totaling $175,000. Starkenburg is scheduled for arraignment on February 10 at 8:30 a.m. at the King County Courthouse, courtroom 1201.

Arraignment is when he will enter pleas to the charges that have been filed against him.

ADDED 3:06 PM: We’ve just reviewed the charging papers, and the information is the same as in the “probable cause” documents from Thursday. Prosecutors asked for bail equivalent to what he had already posted – the $175,000 is the sum of the $150,000 ordered yesterday and the $25,000 ordered in Municipal Court the day before – and he remains on order to stay away from the victims and to stay out of Lincoln Park.

EARLIER COVERAGE:
Suspect’s TV interview after getting out of jail Thursday night
Thursday afternoon’s court hearing (with video)
Thursday noontime report of more possible charges
Wednesday night report with police sketch related to December attack
Wednesday afternoon hearing (with video)
First report, from Tuesday evening, with info on suspect’s criminal record

CB January 28, 2011 (3:23 pm)

He’s already a one strike felon. If convicted would he be facing life for the three charges?

Harry January 28, 2011 (4:32 pm)

Duane Starkenburg attacked my wife and I in 1994 while driving to a wedding in West Seattle. He pulled in front of us, stopped and got out of his creepy van shouting obscinities then attacked me with a garden tool. We had done nothing to provoke such an attack.After the scuffle he fled the scene but was apprehended by Seattle Police. He is a violent,angry person and I hope they lock him up and throw away the key before he really hurts someone……..

WSRes January 28, 2011 (5:13 pm)

Looking at the sentencing guidelines for Washington and his previous criminal history, he would probably get 10-15 years if he were convicted on all three counts without pleaing them down. It appears that this doesn’t qualify for three strikes as it is not three separate “trips” through the criminal justice system. I could be wrong… I’m not an expert.

JimmyG January 28, 2011 (5:54 pm)

Washington passed the first three strikes law in the United States in 1993. The law initially mandated life imprisonment without parole for those convicted three separate times of a wide range of felonies. Washington has substantially amended its law twice. In 1996, it mandated life imprisonment for people who commit certain crimes, such as first degree rape or sexually-motivated felonies, twice. This session the legislature expanded the crimes that invoke the life imprisonment penalty to include any felony crime conviction in another state where there had been a finding of sexual motivation, if the minimum sentence imposed was 10 years or more.

WSB January 28, 2011 (5:55 pm)

thank you, Jimmy – I hadn’t had time to look that up – I got lost earlier just trying to find the potential sentencing range for “indecent liberties” in the RCWs.