According to the Washington State Supreme Court, the state Department of Corrections should have kept an eye on an ex-con named Vernon Valdez Stewart. Stewart, after quite a few encounters with the law, stole a Chevy Suburban. While driving down the street, Stewart was smoking marijuana, running red lights and speeding – and eventually crashed into physical therapist Paula Joyce's truck, killing her.

Stewart had been on supervision after beating his pregnant girlfriend and putting a gun to her head in 1995. He was also convicted for possession of stolen property in 1996. However, officials say that he violated his conditions of release “more than 100 times”, even though only three instances of violation were officially reported.

Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers cited that ‘the state has a duty to take reasonable precautions to protect against reasonably foreseeable dangers posed by the dangerous propensities of parolees.'