Washington State Attorney General’s Office announcement.
TACOMA — Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a petition today urging a Pierce County Superior Court judge to civilly commit a sex offender to McNeil Island, preventing his release into the community.
Marlon S. Mount, 44, was convicted in Pierce County of second-degree child rape in 1995, and second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment in 2001. He was later convicted in Mason County of third-degree child rape in 2018. Mount is in prison and due for release on Sept. 30. The Attorney General’s Office petitioned to have him committed, alleging that he is mentally ill and dangerous.
The civil commitment petition consists of allegations that have not yet been proven in a court of law. A judge will hold a probable cause hearing for Mount in early October to confine him at McNeil Island pending a trial.
Prosecutors will still have the burden to prove the allegations in court. A jury verdict must be unanimous to continue to detain an individual to McNeil Island as a sexually violent predator.
Assistant Attorney General Laura Lewis and paralegals Lissa Treadway Martha Neumann and Rebecca Hendrickson are handling the case for the state.
Washington’s Sexually Violent Predator law allows the state Attorney General’s Office to petition for the civil commitment of violent sex offenders who, because of a mental abnormality and/or personality disorder, are proven likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence if released.
In 1990, Washington became the first state in the nation to pass a law permitting the involuntary civil commitment of sex offenders after they serve their criminal sentences. The Sexually Violent Predator Unit was established shortly thereafter.
The unit is responsible for prosecuting sex predator cases for 38 of Washington’s 39 counties (King County being the exception).
As of mid-September, there are 192 sexually violent predators in the state’s Special Commitment Program.
Why is King County the exception?
Studies indicate the sexual offenders don’t “recover” even with the remediation course that is offered.