CRIME WATCH FOLLOWUP: Jessica Detrick’s ‘alternative’ sentence revoked

After two arrest warrants related to violation of its terms, the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative has been revoked for convicted burglar Jessica Detrick.

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(July 2016 security-camera photo from Fauntleroy burglary)

As reported here last Saturday, she was arrested again after failing to return to residential drug treatment as ordered following a previous failure to comply. DOSA is offered to some offenders as an alternative to jail/prison, but they are warned that the standard sentence remains a possibility if there is trouble like this. This case is related to two residential burglaries for which she was charged last year, in Highland Park and Fauntleroy; at the time she was described as having a multi-state criminal history and 38 King County warrants since 2000, though this was only her fourth felony conviction. She plea-bargained and got the DOSA sentence last fall. Shortly after she ended three months in residential treatment in January, an arrest warrant was issued for failure to comply with reporting requirements; she was arrested in February and ordered to stay in jail until a new residential-treatment space opened for her, but when it did, she didn’t show up, and a new warrant was issued, leading to her arrest a week ago. At a hearing yesterday, court documents show, Detrick, 37, “agreed to voluntary revocation” of DOSA, resulting in a 15-month state-prison sentence with credit for time served.

14 Replies to "CRIME WATCH FOLLOWUP: Jessica Detrick's 'alternative' sentence revoked"

  • Alki Resident April 8, 2017 (11:51 am)

    Not enough time. It’s never enough time. As soon as she’s released, she’ll be at it again.

  • Double Dub Resident April 8, 2017 (11:52 am)

    Wait, a 15 month sentence with credit for time served? Does this mean that there is credit of time served going towards the 15 month sentence or did they just revoke the DOSA and essentially just let her go? And if so, at what point did she earn 15 months of served credit between the time she was given the alternative sentence to the present? 

    • WSB April 8, 2017 (11:57 am)

      She is still in the King County Jail as of this moment. I don’t know if the time in treatment counts toward time served and if I can’t find that in the statute (which is linked above but I’d have to go looking for further fine print), I will have to ask the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on Monday; separate from that, she has spent a little over four months in jail related to this case, July to October last year and February-March this year.

  • anonyme April 8, 2017 (2:18 pm)

    Oh, but this was “only” her FOURTH felony conviction, despite 38 King County warrants since 2000 and a “multi-state criminal history”.

    The other quote that got me was that she “agreed to voluntary revocation” of DOSA.  I’m sorry, but in my world she wouldn’t get a choice.  Why does she get to agree or disagree with anything?  The original sentence should be re-instated, no time served, with additional time for failure to appear.

    • WSB April 8, 2017 (2:22 pm)

      I wasn’t at the hearing, so I don’t know. This is exactly everything it says on the court document.

    • Double Dub Resident April 8, 2017 (3:00 pm)

      Unfortunately, trying to force people into treatment and hoping for success is pretty much like clapping with one hand. 

      The only reason almost all of these criminals agree to DOSA is to escape the  jail time they would have received. I knew she would fail DOSA, along with the other guy in the past story who also received DOSA. I’ve seen it first hand when interning. 

      Professional chemical dependency treatment facilities  have abysmal success rates, which is why the idea that having more treatment facilities is an answer to the homeless addict problem is naive. Though I suppose it would create more jobs

  • Mr. B April 8, 2017 (2:39 pm)

    She’ll be out in 5 months with good behavior and right back to her old ways.  I won’t be surprised to see her starring in more package theft videos.  Wherever you, there you are.  

  • KD April 8, 2017 (3:14 pm)

    I hope her poor dog gets to get away from her chaotic lifestyle for good this time! Where does it go each time she hangs out at KC jail? It needs to go up for adoption at the Shelter and have a real life. (Yes, my heart bleeds more for the animals than the humans.. they are kinder and more pure!) πŸΎπŸ’—πŸΎ

    • JBH April 8, 2017 (6:15 pm)

      KD, I wonder the same thing and for the same reasons… I hope the dog has been rescued. S/he deserves better.

  • wscommuter April 9, 2017 (12:44 am)

    It is by statute that felons receive “credit for time served” … non serious/violent felonies (as these are defined by statute) means that offenders can earn up to 1/3 off of their sentences.  Thus, a 15 month sentence means the offender will actually serve 10 months.  

    Credit for time served is also a creature of statute.  Rooted in the concept that the government can’t hold someone in jail without that counting towards their ultimate punishment.  

    If you don’t like the way this works, talk to your legislators.  Notwithstanding some of the less-informed comments above, many people actually do go through the DOSA program successfully.  This woman failed and will pay for it.  But I’d respectfully suggest that folks get a few facts straight before condemning the entire program.  News media don’t cover the success stories – and there are many.  

    • WSB April 9, 2017 (1:36 am)

      Would love to hear the success stories. In one roundup of four repeat offenders we followed up on earlier this year, it turned out that three of the four (including Detrick) had received DOSA and gotten in trouble again.

      https://westseattleblog.com/2017/02/west-seattle-crime-watch-four-repeat-offenders-in-trouble-again/

      Looking into our archives for any and all other mentions of DOSA, I also found serial burglar Justin Wood, sentenced in 2013 to prison-based DOSA. Court documents note that the night he was released from prison in 2015, he died “of a suspected drug overdose.” He was only in his 20s.

      And there was Sean Jeardoe, who first came to our attention when found in a stolen truck in the Thriftway parking lot with his then-girlfriend, Jessica Detrick. In connection with a burglary series, he got a prison-based DOSA sentence … then reoffended last year. I just checked the jail register and he was back in KCJ in mid-February, with the entry described as DOSA revoke, transfer of custody … he is currently listed as a state-prison inmate.

      In 2014, we covered the sentencing of Donald Plute, in which our story mentioned he had reoffended after a DOSA sentence in 2010. His sentence in 2014 was for a “morning-long rampage”; he is still on the state-prison roster.

      Not a statistical sample but that’s absolutely every case in our archives with a DOSA mention. But at least, for all but one of the above, there is still a chance for them to be a success story. – TR

      • Double Dub Resident April 9, 2017 (8:31 am)

        wscommuter can claim in ignorant all they want, but the fact is I have a degree and was certified in Washington State for chemical dependency counseling as a CPT before becoming disillusioned with it. 

        The fact is, Bob Groeschell, who at the time I got my degree and led the chemical dependency program at Seattle Central and was /is one of the leading advocates in Seattle told us in our first day of class that he didn’t want to discourage anyone, but the fact is, 87% (my friend says he said 93%) of people who stop using drugs or alcohol do not do so through chemical dependency programs, but on their own. This means that at best programs have a 13% success rate.

         

        As an intern at a chemical dependency that specialized in court ordered treatment, I continually saw “patients” try to play the system with making excuses, lying, and trying to bring in fake /someone else’s urine during drug screening.  I watched person after person after person have to go back to court and explain themselves after failing to comply with the court order. 


        There is also the false evidence of DUI alternative sentencing being really successful as the evidence that deems success is the patient show up to counseling sober and not drive drunk (or get caught doing so)  for a period of time. This is something that is not that difficult as most people on the Jellinek scale are not late stage or maintenance drinkers. 


        Chemical dependency programs want these people to succeed or at least get far within the program as this helps them get funding. IMO from my experience sometimes to the point of looking the other way

    • Carole April 9, 2017 (9:50 am)

      I believe the good time release rate changed from 1/3 to 1/2 some years back for most crimes.  For serious/violent crimes such as rape, murder, etc., it remains 1/6.  The change was driven by the state legislature allegedly for budget reasons.

      • Mark April 15, 2017 (10:18 pm)

        Go back and check your facts Carole…..    YOU ARE WRONG!!!

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