Trupin says one of the reasons his program works is the attention paid to how a kid is doing over a longer period of time. Inside the justice system, it's easier to keep track of what kind of help a kid is getting, observes Bobbe Bridge, president of the Center for Children and Youth Justice and a state Supreme Court Justice. On the outside it's tougher, due in part to what Bridge calls "funding silos."
Programs for substance abuse are funded separately from those that target mental health, she explains. The money is tied to a specific kind of treatment, so separate programs are set up to deal with each. Additional factors, like family relationships and education, get money from still other sources, and again new programs are created. The separate pieces rarely work together, she says, so, unlike with Trupin's program, no one has a picture of how a kid is doing overall. "The information just doesn't get shared in a way that is going to really allow the services to kick in at a time when it could prevent a lot of deeper-end issues—deeper-end meaning getting more and more criminally involved," Bridge says.
Courtesy of Elsa Robb
Murder victim
Michael Robb, with
daughter Louisa.
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A psychological evaluation after his arrest noted that Berhe had been receiving no mental-health treatment of any kind during the months leading up to the murder of Michael Robb. Samson's mother called police on June 19, 2005, one week before the killing, saying her son was threatening to commit suicide. "Fuck all the haters in the world," Berhe reportedly told police when they arrived. He was taken to Harborview and released the same day.
The following days were a whirlwind of psychotic episodes and criminal activity, according to police records.
After returning from Harborview, Berhe allegedly joined two other men, Raymond Valencia and Gregory Triggs, who broke into a house in Berhe's West Seattle neighborhood. The trio stole two shotguns, a pistol, ammunition, two televisions, and two DVD players, according to a statement Valencia made to police two months later. Valencia planned to sell the weapons. The stolen goods were kept at Triggs' home.
On June 20 Valencia was picked up by Bellevue police in connection with the theft of two cars. In his statement to police, he told them that Berhe had stolen one of the cars and given it to him. Berhe was not investigated at the time.
Two days later, Berhe's father dialed 911 after Samson allegedly assaulted a visitor. Responding officers described Berhe's speech as erratic, noting that he claimed to rule the world. Yemane Berhe told police he feared for his family's safety. Berhe was again taken to Harborview and again released. A toxicology test was performed and resulted positive for methamphetamines and marijuana. But Berhe was released the same day.
In August 2005, Valencia was arrested for the June break-in, having been matched to prints found at the scene. (He later pleaded guilty.) He told police that after Berhe was released from Harborview on June 22, Berhe had returned to Triggs' home demanding the shotguns; that Triggs had already unloaded one for $90, but handed the 20-gauge, pump-action Ithaca shotgun over to Berhe; and that Berhe told Triggs he wanted to kill somebody. One neighbor would later tell police that Berhe had said on at least a dozen occasions that he was going to "kill all the white people." She also reported seeing him with a shotgun on the morning of June 26.
Police came into contact with Berhe again about 4:30 p.m. on the day of the murder when they were called to investigate a theft at a neighborhood house. Berhe was released at the scene for lack of probable cause, but an officer made a note of seeing yellow shotgun rounds lying on the ground near where he was questioned.
Three hours later, police got the 911 call reporting a shooting on West Marginal Way.
Michael Robb's widow, Elsa Robb, has filed suit against the city of Seattle and two police officers, saying Berhe should have been stopped long before he pulled the trigger. (She declined to be interviewed through her attorney, Timothy Leyh.) "Had the Defendant Officers placed Berhe in secure custody [at the time of the 2002 car theft or in the days leading up to Robb's murder], the tragic and unnecessary death of Michael Robb would not have occurred," her complaint says. The city has denied the allegations in court filings; City Attorney Tom Carr declined to comment.
If Berhe's insanity plea is rejected and he is convicted of first-degree murder, he could be out in as little as 20 years under state sentencing guidelines. If the insanity plea holds, he'll go to Western State Hospital, where his release would be up to the discretion of the medical staff. It is possible Berhe could be back on the street by the time he is 40.
Justice Bridge says the state is aware of the gaps in the mental health–care system that allow kids like Berhe to slide through until something severe happens. Last year, the legislature passed a bill that allows kids on Medicaid more visits to a therapist and that allows less-severe mental-health disorders to qualify for state-funded care. The bill also frees up money to study options for bringing programs like Trupin's outside the justice system. The bill itself doesn't solve the problem, Bridge says, but it's a step in the right direction. "We've come a long way in the 20 or so years I've been involved with this," she says.
lonstot@seattleweekly.com
