Date: 08-30-2000

Case Style: STEPHEN JOYCE, individually, and as the Personal Representative of the Estate of PAULA JOYCE, and as Guardian for the Estate of PAULA JOYCE, and as Guardian for the Estates of MARIE-THERESE JOYCE, a minor age 8, THOMAS JOYCE, a minor age 5, KATHERINE

Case Number: 99-2-10179-6

Judge: Nile E. Aubrey

Court: Superior Court, Pierce County, Washington

Plaintiff's Attorney: John R. Connelly, Jr. and Darrell L. Cochran of Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson & Daheim, Tacoma, Washington

Defendant's Attorney: Grary Andrews and Steven Meeks, Assistant Attorneys General, Tort Claims Division, Olympia, Washington

Description: Paula Joyce was murdered by a felon on community supervision named Valdez Stewart. Stewart was supposed to have been under supervision by the DOC on two separate felony charges at the time he killed Paula Joyce. Investigation after her death and during trial revealed, however, that the DOC had not been following its own departmental directives relating to the supervision but had allowed Stewart to virtually ignore the conditions imposed by the Court for 23 months. Stewart had not been following the conditions of his supervision, had committed over 100 violations of the conditions, had committed additional crimes, while supposedly under supervision, including a felony automobile theft. He liked to take cars and drive them fast. D.O.C. failed to even inform the King County Court that originally allowed him the “extra chance” of community supervision that he had committed a felony while on supervision. He was particularly adept at stealing Chevrolet vehicles as he knew how to break the steering column and start them with a screwdriver. He committed a felony in Kittitas County by stealing a Chevrolet and speeding down the road. D.O.C. failed to report this felony to the King County Court.

Stewart was also having serious problems with mental stability. Judge Passette in King County ordered a release so that D.O.C. could get his medical records. D.O.C. failed to follow through and get the records. These revealed that Stewart was becoming increasingly psychotic. He was suffering from visual and auditory hallucinations, was improperly medicating with his mother’s medications as well as illegal drugs and was becoming dangerous. People he lived with described him as dangerously psychotic, pacing and spitting at night, setting fires within the home, destroying property, stabbing at walls with knives, cutting up his clothing, etc.

At the point he was becoming dangerously psychotic, D.O.C. had an obligation to see him on a weekly basis but, instead, quit monitoring him altogether. His supervising CCO was required to leave the country because her visa expired and the unit supervisor then turned Stewart’s file over to a new, untrained CCO without even looking to see that Stewart was completely out of compliance with the conditions of his release. Stewart’s original release was supposed to have given him one extra chance. D.O.C. gave him over 100 “extra chances.” Eventually, Stewart learned that he could completely ignore D.O.C. without any concern that D.O.C. would do anything about it. He refused to follow Court orders and refused to even provide his address to D.O.C. Despite the fact that these were also major violations of his release D.O.C. did nothing about it. Stewart was allowed to thumb his nose at D.O.C. with impunity, and did so repeatedly.

Discovery and testimony at trial revealed that D.O.C. corrections officers were unfamiliar with applicable departmental procedures and directives and were not following even basic procedures. D.O.C. supervision and training of corrections officers was extremely lax and substandard. In this case, plaintiffs’ experts testified that this was one of the most egregious cases of failed supervision they had seen. Defendants’ expert admitted there were “gaps and holes” in the supervision and admitted that D.O.C. had not taken appropriate action.

Five months before Paula Joyce was killed, Stewart made his final contact with a D.O.C representative. He reported two more times after that, but nobody from D.O.C. was even there to see him so he quit reporting altogether. During this same period, his psychoses was becoming increasingly severe. D.O.C. still had not followed the Court order to obtain his medical records.

On the morning of August 8, 1997, Stewart was severely psychotic, hallucinating and hearing voices. Stewart stole another Chevrolet vehicle, a Suburban, in Seattle and drove to Tacoma at high rates of speed. Toxicology tests revealed he was using marijuana. He exited Highway 16 and headed down Union Avenue, without stopping for traffic signs or lights. (Union Avenue is a residential street with a speed limit of 30 mph) He was traveling at speeds between 65 and 90 miles per hour until he struck Ms. Joyce. Witnesses testified that her small pickup went airborne. It rolled over several times. Joyce died at the scene. Stewart attempted to escape but was followed by a Pierce County Court Bailiff, Kim Edie, and was subsequently apprehended by two off-duty police officers. Stewart was convicted of Murder by a criminal jury and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Outcome: Verdict for $22,453,645: Estate of Paula Joyce $793,390; Plaintiff Stephen Joyce $3,660,255; Marie Therese Joyce $4.5 million; Thomas Joyce $4.5 million; Katherine Joyce $4.5 million; Joseph Joyce $4.5 million.)

Plaintiff's Experts: William Stough, Seattle; Alvin W. Cohn, D. Crim Administration of Justice Services, Inc. Rockville, Maryland; Robert Moss, Economist, Seattle, Washington

Defendant's Experts: Thomas McIntyre, Olympia, Washington

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