(Video of entire sentencing hearing, about 25 minutes, added 5:23 pm)
We’re at the King County Courthouse downtown, where West Seattle catalytic-converter thief and repeat offender Joel Lund, 28, has just been sentenced by Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, represented by senior deputy prosecutor Shaya Calvo, had asked for the top of the range available – 29 months in prison; Lund pleaded guilty last month to the charges filed in the case, including malicious mischief for a February incident involving converter theft, and malicious mischief/stolen-property trafficking, related to a variety of cases (including a theft at the Boren School site), but the case discussed most at the sentencing was the one reported here, in which the converter was taken from a vehicle belonging to an disabled 78-year-old woman. Judge Shaffer read a letter written by the victim, saying the theft deprived her of transportation for more than two weeks. “She could have starved,” said the judge, admonishing Lund.
While Judge Shaffer described herself as “notorious” for sentences that included less prison time and more drug-treatment time – the defense had asked for that kind of a sentence – she said that Lund’s repeated crimes in the West Seattle community were, among other things, “callous.” Speaking to her in the courtroom, Lund claimed he wanted to turn his life around now because of his daughter, who is four. But the judge noted that he had repeated convictions every year since her birth, saying it didn’t seem like fatherhood had been a “motivating factor” thus far. (We recorded the entire hearing on video and will upload it to add to this story when we are back at headquarters.) And she ordered the 29-month sentence.
Despite his lengthy history, this will be the first time Lund has gone into the state prison system. His most recent arrest was in April; he had been allowed into a community work-release type of program after the February arrest but violated its terms by getting arrested again, as we had reported here.
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