CRIME WATCH FOLLOWUP: Trial begins for Westwood Target standoff suspect

More than a year after a man was arrested following a six-hour standoff at the Westwood Village Target store, his trial is beginning today. According to court documents, 32-year-old Timothy A. Clemans has chosen to defend himself in King County Superior Court, where he is on trial for one count of attempted first-degree kidnapping, with a deadly-weapon enhancement. Clemans is alleged to have gone into the store on January 21st, 2022, armed himself with a knife from the kitchen-merchandise section, and started telling people he was going to hold them hostage. He was finally subdued and arrested by SWAT team members and has been in jail ever since. As noted in our followup last year, Clemans is accused of having done this one week after getting out of jail on an assault case, and five days after calling 911 to say he was going to take hostages at a Target store; he allegedly made a similar call just before this incident, saying he would take hostages at a store unless he got the mental-health services he needed. Court documents say his trial, over which Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson is presiding, is expected to last about two weeks. 18 people are on the witness list, including 11 police officers.

Alki resident March 6, 2023 (1:23 pm)

I’m blown away they are letting him represent himself. He has a head injury and this will prevent him from having a fair trial. Unreal

wscommuter March 6, 2023 (2:46 pm)

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No judge can force an individual to accept counsel – everyone has an absolute right to defend themselves, however ill-advised that choice may be. However, routinely in instances like this where someone is choosing that path, the court will appoint “standby counsel” who sits through the trial and has the chance to answer questions for the defendant, give advice, etc. Probably that is the case here.

sgs March 6, 2023 (3:55 pm)

It still boggles the mind that someone can sit in jail for more than a year waiting for a trial, whatever the processes might be.; I would be really pissed if that was me, and no wonder our jails are full.

Christopher B. March 6, 2023 (7:49 pm)

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Irene Plancarte-Bustos, the woman charged with vehicular homicide for the deaths of West Seattleites Lauren and Kamel Dupuis-Perez (which orphaned their two small children) has been sitting in jail awaiting trail since April 2021. To date her trial has been rescheduled 13 times. Currently, the trail is set for May of this year, more than two years after the alleged crime. Though given the number of delays thus far I wouldn’t be surprised if that date slips again.
- WSB March 6, 2023 (8:30 pm)
  
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  And that’s not the only long-term waiting-for-trial person whose case we’re continuing to track. Garrett Heinemann, accused of shooting an Alki neighbor in an alley near their homes, has been in jail since being arrested the day it happened in late 2020. He too has had multiple trial dates (16, according to the “event list” for his case), next one penciled in for April – TR
BSwanson March 6, 2023 (7:54 pm)

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Seriously… we have some pretty amazing technology these days. Million dollar idea: incorporate AI and ML into the court systems to quickly go through the lower level crimes, adhere to the law, get them in jail or whatnot. I’d like to see our court system only focus on the really crappy folks out there. Technology could easily run through a lot of these cases so dudes like this fella wouldn’t be sitting there a year. He needs a true trial but, everyone is tied up with dumb sh-t cases, I believe…
- wscommuter March 7, 2023 (11:50 am)
  
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  I’m genuinely curious at at what you possibly think “technology” could do to “run through” cases. You are aware of a thing called the “Constitution”? You know, with “rights” and stuff? Please do explain how “technology” will go through “lower level crimes” and “adhere to the law.” This ought to be entertaining … The other reality check for folks is that cases aren’t delayed because there’s no courtroom available … cases are routinely delayed for a myriad of reasons having to do with the circumstances of a given case. Defendants have an absolute right to a speedy trial – if a case is continued, it can only happen through the defendant waiving that right (as is very common) and in complicated cases (ie where mental health issues may exist), there can be multiple waivers of the right to speedy trial. No one is sitting in jail having their right to trial violated – by law, the case has to be dismissed if the defendant won’t waive and the prosecutor is unready to try the case.
Jack March 6, 2023 (9:45 pm)

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It really boggles the mind that someone can call 911, beg for help and tell them exactly what he’s gonna do, and that we let nothing happen until he follows through with it.
- WSB March 6, 2023 (10:27 pm)
  
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  No, that’s not how it happened. From the charging documents:
  
  On January 21, 2022, the defendant called 911 again and stated that he was getting on a bus to take hostages in one hour at a store. He stated that he was going to take hostages by knifepoint. He remained on the phone with the dispatcher until he reached where he was going but would not tell her where he was headed.
  
  The defendant traveled to the Westwood Village Target located in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Once the defendant got inside the store, he asked an employee where the knives were and went to the “Kitchen” area of the store. The defendant was still on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. Target store security officers … observed the defendant inside the store on the surveillance system. They recognized him based on the alert that Seattle Police had sent earlier the previous week. They saw that the defendant was wheeling a black suitcase and had on a bright orange hoodie or sweatshirt. Both security officers saw the defendant unwrap a knife from the kitchen area. At this point, (security officer) called 911 to report that the defendant was inside the store. The defendant began to chase customers in the store with the knife ordering them to stop and telling them “You’re hostage now.”

Me March 6, 2023 (4:59 pm)

Let him talk. The more time in jail ect the better

Alki resident March 6, 2023 (6:35 pm)

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ME: they let a murderer out on home monitoring recently and he gets to stay in for a year before even being convicted. He was hit by a car as a child and has a brain injury. Our courts are twisted. He’s been asking for help for years. What if this was your son?
Ts March 6, 2023 (6:55 pm)

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Or maybe time in Western until he is stable and has the outpatient services and support he needs. So sad that someone has to go this far to be heard and disgusting that his pleas for help were ignored

momosmom March 6, 2023 (6:18 pm)

I’m wondering if there’ any update on the apartment fire off of Delridge back in February, I know the person was there and caught but what’s happening with it?Thank you

WSB March 6, 2023 (7:35 pm)

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Do you mean the 1725 SW Barton fire? Arraignment of suspect this week.
- momosmom March 6, 2023 (8:50 pm)
  
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  I’m sorry, Yes that one and thank you.
  
  https://westseattleblog.com/?s=del+ridge+fire

Why March 9, 2023 (9:09 am)

The man obviously needs help and even begged for it. Trial & incarceration are not the ideal outcomes. It shouldn’t be that hard to get mental help.

UsernameWithheld March 10, 2023 (10:10 am)

Is this the same Timothy Clemans that has “Founder/CEO of Crisis Prevention and Response Services Corporation & Award Winning Former Resident Hacker at Seattle Police” on their LinkedIn and “Hostage Taker turned High Stakes Negotiator” on their Twitter?Did Clemans really work for SPD? If so how & why did that happen?I have so many questions about how a person (presumably mentally handicapped per comments here) that made threats to the public, also 100s of daily public release disclosure requests via bots to the point of harassing or delaying SPD, had the qualifications to be hired into a presumeably publically posted government job, especially with all the sensitive public info they’d have access to.

WSB March 10, 2023 (10:19 am)

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Yes, he did work for SPD for a while. At one point we were among the beneficiaries of his work trying to make more report information easier to access (something the department continues to need, but that’s a whole ‘nother story). The Stranger wrote about the situation a few times:
https://www.thestranger.com/news/2015/10/29/23084403/programmer-tim-clemans-resigns-from-police-department-over-turf-battle