In 2003 the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) paid a total of $4
million to settle a parole liability suit involving the sexual assault of a
seven year old girl by a parolee under its supervision. This is the largest
settlement paid by the Washington DOC in a parole liability case that does
not involve a death or attempted murder.

On February 21, 1997, Raymond Robert Meier, broke into the Pierce county
residence of the seven year old female victim [PLN generally does not
identify child crime victims against the wishes of their guardians or
counsel] as she and her family slept. Meier entered the house through a
window with a broken latch above the kitchen sink. Meier then grabbed the
victim from her upstairs room and removed her from the house without waking
the rest of the family. Meier then took the child to an undisclosed
location and brutally raped her. Sexual assault experts said it was the
worst child rape they had ever seen. Because Meier was extremely
intoxicated and high on marijuana, he passed out, allowing the victim to
escape. She was found by a passerby shortly thereafter and led police to
Meier. Meier subsequently pled guilty to burglary, kidnapping and first
degree child rape and was sentenced to life without parole under
Washington's three strikes law.

The victim's parents, acting as guardians, sued the landlord for failing to
make reported repairs to the kitchen window. The DOC paid the landlord's
insurance company $1.4 million to reimburse their losses caused by the
DOC's negligent parole supervision. The complaint showed that the DOC
failed to require Meier to serve a one year community custody sentence
following the completion of a seven year prison term on a 1989 conviction
for child rape and child molestation. Upon release from that Washington
prison term, Meier was returned to Nebraska to complete a prison sentence
he had been on parole for at the time of the 1989 Washington offense, an
offense he committed while being supervised by the Washington DOC. Upon
completion of the Nebraska sentence, Meier returned to Washington in April,
1996.

Between that time and the victim's rape on February 21, 1997, Meier began
spinning out of control. He resumed abusing alcohol and other drugs. He was
arrested at least three times on charges of domestic violence and DUI and
he amassed a collection of child pornography. The suit contended that if
the DOC had required Meier to serve and be supervised under the one year
community custody sentence, he could not have raped the child. The DOC paid
$2.6 million to the victim to settle the lawsuit. This is the latest in an
ongoing line of significant parole liability verdicts and settlements
involving the Washington DOC. The plaintiffs were represented by John
Connelly and Darrell Cochran of the Tacoma law firm of Gordon, Thomas,
Honeywell, Malanca, Peterson and Daheim. See: Riley Clifton v. Hudak and
the Washington DOC, Pierce County Superior Court, Case No.

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