We’re starting a new story today for updates, if and when we get them, on the search for 18-year-old convicted West Seattle burglar Skyelar Hailey, who police say fled late last night when they tried to arrest him on warrants, touching off an air and ground search that we covered here as it happened. Commenters have asked if we can get his mug shot from police; we have asked, but right now, they are not releasing it. From working in Seattle media for almost two decades, we can tell you mug shots have never been routinely available around here, except for three circumstances: 1. A very high-profile search (murder suspect, kidnapper); 2. Registered sex offenders, whose photos are included in the searchable online database; 3. If the criminal has served state prison time, as an adult (in which case the state Department of Corrections will consider releasing a photo). Commenters have provided this MySpace link which they say is his – it includes a 
small photo (and profanity, NSFW). What you see at left is a section of the publicly accessible state court system webpage showing some of the cases against Hailey; others not shown date back to 2002, when he would have been just 12. Meantime, we checked with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to see how last night’s incident might affect the Friday sentencing scheduled for Hailey after a plea deal in the November Admiral incident (prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to prove he was in the burglarized house, so the guilty plea was for criminal trespass); spokesperson Dan Donohoe tells WSB, “Eluding police would violate part of the plea agreement, and if there is probable cause that he eluded police, then we would use that as a basis for requesting a longer sentence.” We’ll continue tracking this through the day and will add any new information as we get it.
12:33 PM UPDATE: Just talked with Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, who runs the SPD media unit; he says the department’s current policy is that it just doesn’t release mug shots except in circumstances such as, a particularly violent crime is involved. So still no mug shot. But a WSBer has uploaded what they say is an old school photo of Hailey to Twitpic; grainy but you can see it here.
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