Common sense would have prevented insane killer's escape

This editorial appears in the Sept. 23, 2009, Yakima Herald-Republic.

Saturday's front page headline said it all: "Police comb region for insane killer." If that doesn't put fear into the hearts of newspaper readers, nothing will.

Then came Monday's banner headline: "Escaped killer caught."

Those headlines, though, never should have been written, nor should Phillip Arnold Paul, a convicted, criminally insane killer, ever have been allowed the opportunity to escape during a field trip Thursday to the Spokane County fair.

What more did authorities need to suspect that the 47-year-old Paul was planning an escape? All of the signs were there. When Paul joined 30 other patients and 11 staff members on the field trip, he was carrying a backpack stuffed with clothing and food, plus an electric guitar and $50 from a Social Security check. The only thing missing was a pre-paid bus ticket out of town.

Didn't health workers notice anything slightly suspicious here? It's not as if Paul had not tried to escape before. In 1991 he gave Eastern State Hospital workers the slip during a field trip to Medical Lake, where the institution is located. During his subsequent arrest, Paul belted a Spokane County sheriff's detective, separating his shoulder and leaving him unconscious. It turns out the same detective helped nab Paul on Sunday near Goldendale.

For that escape and fisticuffs, Paul was convicted of first-degree escape and second-degree assault.

And let's not forget the terrible crime that sent Paul to the mental health institution in the first place. Paul slashed the throat of 78-year-old Ruth Mottley in Sunnyside after the well-known retired school teacher had greeted him at the end of her driveway. Paul then soaked her body in gasoline to keep search dogs away and buried her body in the woman's flower bed.

Paul later told authorities he had heard voices telling him Mottley was a witch. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic and found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to Eastern State for up to life.

It's not as if Paul has fully recovered. Just two weeks ago, a Yakima County Superior Court judge had ruled that Paul remained a threat to the public because of his aggressive behavior.

Despite all of these warning signs, mental health officials at Eastern State deemed Paul safe enough to join the group heading to the fair.

And then after they realized he had escaped, they waited two hours before telling police.

The state promises to thoroughly review its policies in light of this escape and has frozen all field trips for patients whom they designate, as they did with Paul, as forensic patients -- those committed for treatment as a result of criminal proceedings. The Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees the state's mental health institutions, vows to report back on its review within 15 days.

We offer here our own recommendation that will not take pages of thickly worded analysis to explain: Use common sense. It's that simple. None was in evidence last Thursday. Allowing someone with a backpack stuffed with clothes and a history of at least one escape to saunter around a county fair with the public is ridiculous.

A three-ring binder containing policy guidelines won't matter if people putting those rules into action don't engage their brains.

And in the case of Phillip Arnold Paul, they failed miserably in their duty to protect the public. Thankfully, Paul did not harm anyone during his latest escape. But let's never forget what he did to Ruth Mottley. That's a crime for which field trips should never be rewarded.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.