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A homeless man accused of assaulting two women and beating a man to death over a course of mere hours in Seattle is expected to receive more than $36,000 from taxpayers for remaining in jail instead of receiving court-ordered mental health treatments.
Alexander Jay, 40, was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree assault stemming from three separate attacks that took place in March over the course of 12 hours.
He is accused of beating 31-year-old Brent Wood to death on March 3. The fatal beating came hours after Jay allegedly threw a woman down the stairs at Seattle’s Union Station – which left the woman with broken bones – and after he allegedly stabbed another woman at a bus stop, an attack that happened just minutes after the train station incident.
Jay has been behind bars since March and will face a competency hearing for his murder charge before the trial begins, King 5 reported this week. A judge already deemed him incompetent to stand trial for the assault charges back in April.
Jay’s case was complicated in April when a judge ordered Jay receive three months of in-patient care at a mental health facility so that he could understand the charges brought against him.
Jay, however, has remained behind bars at the King County Jail because there was not enough room for him at a mental health facility, a representative for the State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) told Fox 13.
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In June, a judge ruled that DSHS must pay Jay $250 for each day he remains in jail instead of receiving treatment for his mental health.
DSHS expects a bed will be cleared for him at Western State Hospital by Oct. 2, a representative for DSHS told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. The state will owe him $36,750 by that date, according to Fox 13.
The judge altered her order this month so that Jay would not receive the payments directly, and instead directed the payments be made to a “protective payee or agreed responsible adult.” DSHS told Fox News Digital no payments have been made to Jay as of Tuesday.
Booking photo of Alexander Jay, who was charged in King County, Washington, for first-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault.
(Fox 13 )
News of the payments sparked the ire of a family member of the man Jay allegedly fatally beat.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s not right. He shouldn’t be getting money,” said Nathan Wood, Brent Wood’s younger brother, told Fox 13.
DSHS has also spoken out against the payments.
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“We as a department have taken the position that we oppose payment of these compensatory sanctions because we are taking the right steps and measures to provide these services for our clients awaiting inpatient services. We believe these fines take money out of the very system that is designed to help them and provide them services,” the department said in a statement, according to Fox 13.
Jay is not the only person awaiting a bed at a state-run mental health facility. He’s joined by hundreds of others, according to the outlet. The state has so far paid $93,700 to people in similar situations, and is facing $88,150 in pending payments, including Jay’s.
DSHS told Fox 13 that it expects to have 60 additional beds at facilities by the fall.
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Jay is being held in jail in lieu of $650,000 bail for the two assault charges and $5 million bail for the murder charge. He has nearly two dozen prior convictions in Washington dating back to 2000, according to prosecutors.
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this article.
