Friday, March 05 2010
Yakima Herald-Republic staff, wire reports
Yakima Herald-Republic
The state will pay $3.25 million to settle a lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections by the families of two women, including one from Yakima, who were attacked by convicted killer Michael Braae.
The state filed the settlement agreement last Friday in Thurston County Superior Court.
The settlement resolves two of four lawsuits that were filed in 2008 by the Tamaki Law firm in Yakima on behalf of the family members of four women who were killed, thought to be killed or were otherwise victimized by the drifter and aspiring country singer known as "Cowboy Mike."
Most of the settlement, $3 million, goes to the family of Lori Jones, 44, who was raped and murdered in her apartment in the Olympia suburb of Lacey in 2001. Braae, 50, is now serving 48 years in prison for the slaying.
The rest of the settlement, $250,000, goes to a Yakima woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Braae days after Jones was slain.
Braae has been linked to the death or disappearance of at least four women in the Pacific Northwest, including Jones. He also was caught in at least five escape attempts from jail, including one in which he picked a lock in the Yakima County jail with a toothbrush.
Days after Jones' murder, but before her body was discovered, Braae showed up in Yakima. After he left the area, his traveling companion, Marchelle Morgan, was found near death on a road south of Union Gap with a gunshot wound to the head.
Spotted later near the Oregon/Idaho border, Braae led police on a wild chase capped by a spectacular 40-foot leap from an interstate bridge into the Snake River. Authorities fished him out two miles downstream.
The lawsuits alleged that Braae wouldn't have been able to victimize the women had the Department of Corrections correctly placed him on community supervision as ordered by a judge in 2000.
Instead of placing him on community supervision, the state agency made Braae pay fines and did not require home visits by probation officers.
Lawsuits brought by Morgan and the estate of another presumed homicide victim, Susan Ault, remain unresolved.
Braae remains a "person of interest" in Susan Ault's homicide, as well in another case involving Deb VanLuven, a former Lacey resident who lived with Braae in Oregon and Montana and went missing in 1997.
Ault, 39, disappeared from a friend's trailer in Wahkiakum County on May 21, 2001. The friend saw Braae and Ault arguing shortly before her disappearance.
Ault's purse, with identification, was found at a rest stop, but she has never been found. In July 2008, the Wahkiakum County coroner issued a death certificate for Ault, stating she was a homicide victim.
Braae was tried in the Morgan case, but it ended in a mistrial in 2006 after a jury deadlocked 11-1 for conviction. The prosecution's case was hampered when a judge ruled that Morgan was unfit to testify because of brain injuries.
Thursday, March 04 2010
OLYMPIA - The state will pay $3.25 million to settle two plaintiffs' claims in a lawsuit brought against the state Department of Corrections by the family of an alleged victim and daughters of a victim of convicted killer Michael "Cowboy Mike" Braae.
According to the settlement agreement filed Friday in Thurston County Superior Court, the payout from the state’s risk management pool includes a $3 million settlement to the two daughters of Braae’s 2001 homicide victim, Lori Jones of Lacey. The state will also pay $250,000 to the estate of Karen Peterson, who said that Braae sexually assaulted her in Yakima County in 2001.
In 2008, Braae was sentenced to nearly 48 years in prison for raping and murdering Jones in her Lacey apartment in summer 2001.
Two additional alleged Braae victims named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against DOC – the estate of homicide victim Susan Ault and the estate of Marchelle Morgan – have yet to settle their civil claims, and their lawsuits are still active.
The lawsuit alleges that Corrections failed to supervise Braae when he was on probation around the time of Ault’s disappearance in June 2001.
The suit says that Braae wouldn’t have been able to victimize the four women had Corrections correctly extended Braae’s parole from October 2000 to October 2001. The suit further alleges that corrections lost the order that would have extended Braae’s parole to October 2001.
The suit also alleges that Corrections failed to correctly place Braae on community supervision in October 2000, as ordered by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy.
Instead, Braae was placed on the lowest level of supervision, “LFO,” which stands for legal, financial obligations only, and requires a person who is out of custody only to pay fines, Bryan Smith, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said in a prior interview.
A Corrections spokesman and Assistant Attorney General Paul James, who is representing the agency in the lawsuit, declined to comment on the settlement of the two plaintiffs’ cases Friday, citing the pending cases.
Reached by telephone late Wednesday, plaintiffs’ attorney Blaine Tamaki said: “The families wanted closure after so many years. Sadly, money is the only way for DOC to apologize to the families. Because of the pending cases, I cannot say more.”
Braae remains a “person of interest” in Susan Ault’s homicide, as well in another case involving Deb VanLuven, a former Lacey resident who lived with Braae in Oregon and Montana and went missing in 1997.
Ault, 39, disappeared from a friend’s trailer in Wahkiakum County on May 21, 2001. The friend saw Braae and Ault arguing shortly before her disappearance.
Ault’s purse, with identification, was found at a rest stop, but she has never been found.
In July 2008, the Wahkiakum County coroner issued a death certificate for Ault, stating she was a homicide victim.
Morgan was shot in the head and left for dead on a country road south of Union Gap on July 14, 2001. Braae was accused of attempted murder in her shooting, but the case ended in a mistrial after a judge ruled that Morgan was unfit to testify because of her brain injuries.
Jeremy Pawloski, Staff Writer for The Olympian: 360-754-5465
jpawloski@theolympian.com
Thursday, October 15 2009
Victim's family sues over state's handling of killer
JEREMY PAWLOSKI; The Olympian
The daughter of homicide victim Susan Ault has joined a civil lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections alleging that it failed to supervise convicted killer "Cowboy" Mike Braae around the time of Ault's disappearance in June 2001.
The lawsuit was filed by Ault’s daughter Cortney Satterthwaite on Oct. 8 in Thurston County Superior Court. The suit makes the same claims about the DOC’s liability as three other lawsuits filed by family members of women who were killed, are thought to have been killed, or otherwise were victimized by Braae, said Yakima attorney Blaine Tamaki. She is representing all four families.
Ault, 39, disappeared from a friend’s trailer in Wahkiakum County on May 21, 2001, her father, Bruce Ault, said in an interview last year. The friend saw Braae and Ault arguing shortly before her disappearance, Bruce Ault has said. Ault’s purse, with identification, later was found at a rest stop, but she has never been found.
In July 2008, the Wahkiakum County coroner issued a death certificate for Ault, stating that she was a victim of “homicidal violence of unknown type.”
In July 2008, Braae was sentenced to nearly 48 years in prison for raping and murdering Lori Jones in her Lacey apartment in summer 2001.
Braae remains a “person of interest” in Ault’s homicide, as well as in another case involving Deb VanLuven, a former Lacey resident who lived with Braae in Oregon and Montana and went missing in 1997.
The four plaintiffs in the lawsuits against DOC filed by Tamaki are the families of Susan Ault, Lori Jones, Marchelle Morgan and Karen Peterson.
Morgan was shot in the head and left for dead on a country road south of Union Gap on July 14, 2001. Braae was accused of attempted murder in her shooting, but the case ended in a mistrial after a judge ruled Morgan was unfit to testify as a witness because of her brain injuries.
Peterson alleges that Braae sexually assaulted her in Yakima County, also in July 2001.
The Tamaki law firm’s lawsuits all allege that Braae wouldn’t have been able to victimize the four women in 2001 had DOC correctly placed him on community supervision, as ordered by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy in October 2000.
Pomeroy made that order during a hearing that month after Braae was found to be in noncompliance with his conditions of release following a 1997 conviction for escaping from the Thurston County Jail.
Instead, DOC placed Braae on its lowest level of supervision, LFO, which stands for legal, financial obligations only and requires a person who is out of custody only to pay fines, Bryan Smith, one of Tamaki Law’s attorneys, said last year.
“This is a case where there were red flags all over the place that he was a bad actor,” Smith said last year. “He was placed on the lowest level of supervision. This guy needed geographical range restrictions, field visits and drug testing.”
Tamaki said Wednesday that DOC misplaced or lost Pomeroy’s order extending Braae’s community custody. During the period in which Braae should have been on community supervision, Ault disappeared and Jones was raped and murdered in Lacey, Tamaki said.
Tamaki said his office has learned additional information about DOC’s mishandling of Braae’s supervision as part of its discovery in the other lawsuits. That information is included in the new lawsuit filed on behalf of Ault’s family last week, and it includes the following:
• In 1998, Clackamas County Sheriff’s Lt. Wendi Babst notified the Washington DOC of her investigation of a suspicious death of one of Braae’s girlfriends, Velina Larson, in Oregon. She asked to be notified about Braae’s release from DOC custody.
• “Had the DOC bothered to call Lt. Babst when assessing Mr. Braae’s risk to society, Lt. Babst would have informed the DOC that her investigation led her to interview numerous victims of extreme violence committed by Michael Braae in 1998, 1999, and 2000 in Washington, Oregon and California,” reads the lawsuit. “These acts of violence included forcible rape, battery (including beatings with his closed fist) and death threats.”
• Being left without active supervision “enabled Mr. Braae to wander freely, continuing his well-documented pattern of perpetrating violent crimes against women.”
• The lawsuit concludes: “Rather than viewing Mr. Braae as the highest risk to society, the DOC failed to inquire about all of the above criminal and behavioral history, ignored the court order imposing community supervision, incorrectly scored Mr. Braae using the LSI-R, and failed to report his numerous probation violations to the court which would have resulted in jail time.”
The first of the lawsuits filed by Tamaki is tentatively scheduled to go to trial in Thurston County in July.
Washington Assistant Attorney General Paul James, who is defending DOC in all four of the civil lawsuits, declined to comment on the lawsuits Wednesday. When interviewed about the lawsuits last year, James said, “I think DOC has a difficult job in supervising offenders who are free to walk about in the community.”
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465
jpawloski@theolympian.com
Friday, October 09 2009
Great Falls Tribune
greatfallstribune.com
By TRAVIS COLEMAN
Tribune Staff Writer
Native Americans sexually abused by Jesuit priests have less than two months to seek damages from the bankrupt church.
The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province filed for bankruptcy protection in February in the wake of more than 200 lawsuits alleging that priests sexually abused children in northwestern states.
One condition was that victims have until Nov. 30 to file an abuse lawsuit against the Jesuits. After that, no claims can be brought against them. The Jesuits have since 2001 paid out more than $25 million to sex abuse victims.
Attorneys have in recent weeks canvassed the state looking for Native Americans to come forward with claims, and one group stopped in Great Falls and the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation on Thursday.
Attorneys Kenneth Roosa of Alaska and Rebecca Rhoades of California accompanied Elsie Boudreau, a clergy sex abuse victim who is now reaching out to other victims. Boudreau said the church routinely dumped their "problem priests" in remote Native American communities, where they continued to molest and rape children. Boudreau added that there are nearly 300 victims of clergy sex abuse in her native Alaska.
Boudreau was abused by Father James Poole starting when she was 10. The molestation continued until she was a student at Carroll College in Helena. She wrote him a letter when she was 19 demanding that the abuse stop and it did. Poole later admitted the abuse and Boudreau settled with the Jesuits.
"It has allowed me to find my voice and for the first time be OK in my body," Boudreau said.
The attorneys believe there are clergy sex abuse victims in Montana because priests who molested elsewhere were relocated to Indian mission schools in Montana.
"It's highly unlikely they stopped molesting down here," Roosa said, adding that they have gotten no claims yet.
Attorneys are focusing on claims against multiple now-deceased priests, including Father Augustine Ferretti and Father Bernard McMeel, who were believed to have spent time on either the Flathead, Rocky Boy's or Fort Belknap Indian Reservations. They had histories of molesting children, Roosa said.
Another law firm — Tamaki Law Offices of Yakima, Wash. — has also been in Montana to search for clergy sex abuse victims. Another group of attorneys, the Northwest Attorneys for Justice, are also looking for victims.
Tamaki attorney Bryan Smith said they have been holding meetings on the Flathead, Fort Belknap and Crow reservations. They have about 15 claims so far from Montana.
"We have been slowly but surely turning up survivors," Smith said.
According to attorneys, there are claims against at least five priests who served at the St. Paul's Indian Mission during and before the 1970s.
"The more people we can bring forward, the better," Smith said. "There really is no harm in coming forward in telling your story and making a claim."
The Jesuits' bankruptcy filing does not mean that the society won't be able to pay claims, but there also is no guarantee of compensation if a claim is filed.
Boudreau's abuse victim's network can be reached at 907-529-2843. Tamaki Law Offices can be reached at 800-801-9564.
Monday, October 05 2009
Yakima Herald Republic
YAKIMA, Wash. -- A deadline is pending for people alleging they were abused by a Jesuit priest or brother at an Indian boarding school in Okanogan County or other locations around the Northwest during the 1960s.
Alleged victims must come forward by Nov. 30 to file a claim against the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province (a Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church). The deadline was set by a federal court in Portland.
Because the Oregon Province filed for bankruptcy protection in February, a judge has ruled that claimants must file a form before the November deadline, or they could lose their rights to claim physical, sexual or mental misconduct against the Society.
Several hundred people have alleged abuse by Jesuits assigned to work in missions, urban areas, parishes, schools and churches in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Alaska, reported several attorneys, including Blaine Tamaki of Yakima, who represents some of the claimants.
About 200 claims were settled over a period of years by the Jesuits before bankruptcy proceedings began.
Many of the alleged victims, now adults, were Native American children living at remote missions and on other reservations in Washington.
Yakama tribal members are among those filing suit, alleging that they were abused at St. Mary's Mission near Omak, Wash., an Indian boarding school in Okanogan County.
The Yakamas' claims were originally raised in a lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court by Tamaki.
For more information on obtaining a claim form, write the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province Case, c/o BMC Group Inc., P.O. Box 3020, Chanhassen, Minn., 55317. Or call 888-909-0100, or visit www.bmcgroup.com/sjop.
Tuesday, April 28 2009
Yakamas part of lawsuit over alleged Jesuit abuse
by MARK MOREY
Yakima Herald-Republic
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakama tribal members are among those suing a Northwest order of Catholic Jesuits over allegations that they were abused at an Indian boarding school in Okanogan County.
The claims were originally raised in a lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court by 18 anonymous plaintiffs, represented by the Tamaki Law Firm of Yakima.
That case was dismissed because the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in February filed for bankruptcy because it is facing hundreds of similar claims.
Attorney Blaine Tamaki said he now represents close to 30 claimants who will be submitting requests as creditors in the bankruptcy case. Some of those are members of the Yakama tribe, he said.
The original plaintiffs are not named in the federal lawsuit, a move which defense attorneys objected, and Tamaki would not name any of the Yakama claimants.
The Oregon Province covers Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Society of Jesus priests, known as Jesuits, staff and manage a variety of schools around the Northwest.
The lawsuit filed by Tamaki alleges that priests in the order who were assigned to St. Mary's Mission near Omak, Wash., were responsible for abuse against the claimants. Most of the alleged activity took place in the 1960s.
Tamaki said in a news release that the order had a history of sending pedophile priests to isolated Indian reservations, where they were able to continue their abuses. The St. Mary's school is on the Colville reservation.
In public statements, the province has emphasized that the abuse allegations involve only a small percentage of the order's priests. Most of the suspects are dead or elderly.
Because the province has paid millions to cover legal claims by alleged victims, bankruptcy reorganization is the only way to keep the organization viable, according to statements on the provincial Web site.
Tamaki urged any other victims to come forward if they want to join the bankruptcy process.
The Oregon court handling the matter is expected to soon establish a deadline for any claims against the province.
Friday, April 24 2009
Wednesday, April 23, 2009
by Mark Morey
Yakima Herald-Republic
YAKIMA, Wash. -- A Schwan's delivery driver who fell into a water meter well won a $275,000 dollar settlement from the town of Tieton, whose since-retired public works director built the well.
The settlement for deliveryman Roger Crawford of Yakima was reached earlier this month as the case was headed to trial in Yakima County Superior Court. Tamaki Law Offices of Yakima filed the case in 2006 and announced the resolution Wednesday.
Attorney Brian Smith, who represented Crawford, said his client was making a delivery in December 2003 when he fell into a 4-foot- deep well around a water meter in Tieton.
Crawford struck his head on the truck door and injured his neck, back and knee, according to the lawsuit. He was not able to continue as a delivery driver and has not found a new job since, Smith said.
Smith said the well casing and its cover were poorly designed. Because the well top was not flush with the ground, it was susceptible to being damaged when vehicles drove over it, Smith said.
That damage meant the lid was unstable and could come loose, creating an opening that exposed the well, he said.
Tieton Mayor Stan Hall said he would have preferred to let the case go to trial, but the insurance company decided to settle.
The settlement was paid through insurance. Hall said he did not expect any money for the case to come out of the town's current budget.
Hall said he was told other well covers in town have been fixed since Crawford's fall.
Wednesday, February 18 2009
Abuse alleged - Liabilities facing the five-state province add up to $62 million
BRYAN DENSON and NANCY HAUGHT
The Oregonian Staff
The Northwest's Jesuits filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Tuesday in Portland, citing civil lawsuits resulting from allegations of clergy sex abuse.
Formally known as the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, the Roman Catholic order declared assets of $4.8 million and liabilities of nearly $62 million, according to the 123-page filing posted in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon.
The five-state Jesuit province is listed as a defendant in nine active lawsuits in Alaska, Idaho and Washington. Another suit was settled last September in Multnomah County. The suits were brought by plaintiffs alleging sexual abuse by priests.
"Our decision to file Chapter 11 was not an easy one, but with approximately 200 additional claims pending or threatened, it is the only way we believe that all claimants can be offered a fair financial settlement within the limited resources of the province," said Oregon's provincial, the Rev. Patrick J. Lee, in a written statement.
Although the Oregon province is the largest geographically in the world, it remains the poorest financially of the Jesuits' 10 provinces in the United States, according to the order's Web site.
According to the Portland-based province, the Jesuits have settled at least 200 legal claims since 2001, paying more than $25 million, not including payments by the province's insurers. The bankruptcy filing listed assets of $1.2 million in real property and $3.7 million in personal property.
"Our hope is that by filing Chapter 11, we can begin to bring this sad chapter in our province's history to an end," Lee said. "We continue to pray for all those who have been hurt by the actions of a few men, so that they can receive the healing and reconciliation that they deserve."
Lee said the filing will allow the province to resolve its pending claims, manage its financial situation and continue its ministries in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. The province includes more than 250 Jesuits.
The Jesuits came to the Northwest in 1841 after being invited by the Flathead tribe from what is now Montana.
The Oregon province, created in 1932, has two universities -- Seattle University and Gonzaga University in Spokane -- and four high schools, including Jesuit High School in Beaverton. In 2001, the order established St. Andrew Nativity School in Northeast Portland.
Wednesday, February 04 2009
Bonlender gets cash, apology from Enseys in defamation case
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Ron Bonlender's defamation lawsuit against Rick Ensey, the candidate who wrested away his Yakima City Council seat, has been settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Bonlender sued Ensey and his wife, Diane, immediately after losing his council seat in 2007. He accused the Enseys of using a political blog written anonymously by Diane Ensey to smear him by posting unfounded rumors of drunken driving.
The suit was settled Tuesday following a lengthy mediation session in Seattle and averted the need for a civil trial set for next month in Yakima County Superior Court.
In addition to the undisclosed cash figure, the Enseys also agreed to issue a brief public apology. Both sides also agreed not to disparage each other in interviews with the news media on the subject of the lawsuit.
Ensey, who is entering his second year on the council, said Wednesday a confidentiality provision requested by Bonlender prevented him from saying how much money changed hands.
"It is what it is," he said of the settlement, adding, "I'm just happy it's over with, and I'm sure he's happy it's over with. I've put it out of my head and I'm moving forward."
Bonlender acknowledged that he signed a confidential agreement but said he would have no problem releasing the figure, which he described as "substantial," if Ensey wanted to.
"He can say what the amount is if he wants to," Bonlender said.
The settlement comes on the heels of several pretrial decisions that had not gone in the Enseys' favor. Their request for a change of venue was turned down, then a judge refused to throw out the case on summary judgment.
On her now-defunct blog InsideYakima.com, Diane Ensey was writing under the pseudonym "Publius" and in a post on Oct. 4, 2007, she recounted a conversation with a friend. In it, she said the friend had relatives who believed Bonlender had been arrested several times for drunken driving and that it was being covered up by the police, city officials and the Yakima Herald-Republic.
In a court hearing last November, the Enseys' lawyer, Nancy T. McKinley, argued that the blog post was protected free speech and that public figures like Bonlender have to prove malice, not just indifference to truth.
McKinley said Diane Ensey meant only to make the point that the Democratic activist was subject to the same kind of mudslinging that Democrats used against Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches, during the 2006 campaign when both men were running for a 14th District House seat.
During that race, Democrats publicized a 1998 DUI arrest of Ross, who later pleaded guilty to an amended charge of first-degree negligent driving.
"There was a rumor (about Bonlender). She discussed the rumor," McKinley told the court.
But Bonlender's attorney, Blaine Tamaki, countered that a jury was better suited than a judge to determine context.
Not only was Diane Ensey blogging anonymously about her husband's political opponent, Tamaki noted, it had since come out in pretrial testimony that the source of the alleged DUI rumor were her own in-laws.
The judge sided with Tamaki and refused to dismiss the case.
Friday, July 04 2008
Published July 04, 2008, in The Olympian (Olympia Newspaper), and later picked up by the wires and published throughout the Northwest dailies.
Suit critical of Braae supervision
Jeremy Pawloski
A Lacey woman wouldn't have been raped and killed by "Cowboy" Michael Braae in 2001 had the Department of Corrections heeded a judge's order one year earlier to more closely supervise Braae while he was on probation, according to a lawsuit filed by the woman's family.
"This is a case where there were red flags all over the place that he was a bad actor," Bryan Smith, the Yakima attorney who filed the civil lawsuit on behalf of victim Lori Jones of Lacey, said about Braae. "He was placed on the lowest level of supervision. This guy needed geographical range restrictions, field visits and drug testing."
Smith's lawsuits against Corrections mention the allegation that a Clackamas County, Ore., sheriff's detective warned the agency in 1998 that Braae was a "person of interest" in the death of a woman there and requested 24 hours' notice before Braae's release from Washington Corrections.
A report in Sunday's Olympian detailed Clackamas County Sgt. Wendi Babst's investigation after one of Braae's girlfriends, Velina Larson, was found dead there in 1998. Babst found that Braae had been investigated or arrested three times in rape cases that were never brought to trial.
Braae remains a person of interest in two unsolved missing-person cases in Washington: former Lacey resident Deb VanLuven's disappearance in 1997 and Susan Ault's disappearance from Wahkiakum County in 2001. VanLuven and Ault both are former girlfriends of Braae. Braae also is a person of interest in Babst's ongoing investigation into Larson's unsolved death in 1998.
Smith said that instead of placing Braae on community supervision, as ordered by a judge in October 2000, Corrections placed Braae on "LFO," which stands for "legal, financial obligations only" and requires a person on probation to only pay fines. LFO does not require home visits by probation officers.
Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Pomeroy ordered community supervision during a hearing in October 2000 after Braae was found to be in noncompliance with his probation after a 1997 conviction for escaping from the Thurston County Jail.
"It's very clear that there was a human error in this case," Smith said.
Smith has filed two other similar lawsuits on behalf of two other alleged victims of Braae who are alive. In each of those plaintiffs' cases, harm could have been avoided had Corrections supervised Braae more closely, as it should have, Smith said. All three lawsuits are set to have stays in their proceedings lifted in the wake of Braae's conviction in Jones' murder earlier this year.
In addition, two other civil plaintiffs have filed suits against Braae. They are:
• Marchelle Morgan, who was shot in the head and left for dead on a country road south of Union Gap on July 14, 2001. Braae was accused of attempted murder in her shooting, but the case ended in a mistrial after a judge ruled Morgan was unfit to testify as a witness because of her brain injuries.
• Karen Peterson, who alleges Braae sexually assaulted her in Yakima County, also in July 2001.
Referring to the Lori Jones case, Smith said, "Two daughters are without a mother" because of Corrections' mistake. Referring to his other clients, he added, "One son has had his mother taken from him due to brain injury, and another mother will live the rest of her life with the painful memory of the assault."
Washington Assistant Attorney General Paul James, who is defending Corrections in Smith's civil lawsuits, said Thursday, "We're going to defend the interests of the state vigorously. I think DOC has a difficult job in supervising offenders who are free to walk about in the community."
A Corrections spokesman released a statement Thursday when asked about the civil suits.
"First and most importantly, our hearts and concern remain with families who have been tragically victimized by Michael Braae," it reads. "With the resolution of the criminal trials, the civil cases can now move forward. The attorneys representing the Department will work with opposing counsel as this case progresses."