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Mentally ill murder suspect still jailed despite court order

The Daily Herald - 2/17/2018

EVERETT — A murder suspect remained at the Snohomish County Jail on Friday morning despite a judge's order that he be placed in a state mental hospital and begin receiving treatment.

Joshua Thompson has been locked up at the county jail in Everett for nearly five months. He's charged with second-degree murder in the Sept. 25 death of Juan Gonzales. Prosecutors say Thompson fatally kicked Gonzales near the Everett Gospel Mission. Both men were living on the streets.

Thompson has been found too mentally ill to assist his lawyer, but there is hope he will respond to treatment. Since Oct. 24, the state has been under court order to find room for Thompson in a mental hospital.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss on Feb. 2 ordered that Thompson be admitted to Western State Hospital before Feb. 16. If the deadline was missed, Weiss said, he would find the state Department of Social and Health Services in contempt and assess a $2,000 fine for every day the state fails to comply.

The state maintains there isn't room at its hospitals for Thompson and other defendants caught in similar legal log jams.