At a short King County Superior Court hearing this morning, the West Seattle man charged in the July hit-run death of bicyclist Robb Mason pleaded not guilty.
The judge agreed to prosecutors’ request for electronic home monitoring of 20-year-old defendant Mohamed A. Yusuf, and the defense did not object. He is charged with vehicular homicide and felony hit-run, accused of hitting Mr. Mason at a speed past 50 mph on Spokane Street while the 63-year-old victim was riding his bike home just east of the low bridge. Yusuf did not address the court; Mr. Mason’s widow Claudia Mason was in the courtroom and did speak to Judge Karen Donohue during the hearing – here’s what she told media outside the courtroom afterward:
Before she spoke to reporters, a sobbing supporter hugged her in the hallway, lamenting that “the law is not fair,” allowing the defendant to remain out of custody. The judge, in response to Ms. Mason, had contended that being under electronic home monitoring means he is in custody. In the charging documents, as we first reported last Wednesday, police say they identified Yusuf as the suspect through “scrupulous detective work” including evidence such as car debris at the scene and video from a Metro bus, and evidence gathered once he was charged included his online/phone activity, some of which involved searches, links, and messages related to the case. He is due back in court next month.
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