High court rules against Renton killer inheriting estate

Joshua Hoge, who fatally stabbed his mother and half-brother 10 years ago in Renton, won't be able to collect thousands of dollars from a lawsuit in the deaths just because he was found not guilty be reason of insanity.

The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that willfully killing someone bars people from profiting from it — even if they aren't convicted of the crime.

The ruling settles years of legal argument over one technicality of the state's so-called "slayer statute." But it also leaves some room for future debate.

"A finding of not guilty by reason of insanity does not make an otherwise unlawful homicide lawful," Justice Tom Chambers wrote on the full court's behalf. "Hoge's actions were willful and unlawful when he killed his mother."

Hoge, now 38, repeatedly stabbed his mother, Pamela Kissinger, 49, and his half-brother, Zach Kissinger, 19, in June 1999 at their Renton-area home. He also tried to kill his mother's boyfriend, Walter Williams, with an ax.

When police arrested him, he told them he thought his mother had killed his child and that Williams must be magic because he didn't die.

Hoge had not been taking the anti-psychotic medication prescribed to treat his years-long mental illness, which included schizophrenia and Capgras syndrome, which led him to believe his family had been replaced by impostors.

The King County Superior Court found Hoge not guilty by reason of insanity and sent him to Western State Hospital. In its findings, the court ruled that the killings were intentional and premeditated, but that Hoge was too mentally ill to understand right from wrong.

Pamela Kissinger's brother sued King County on behalf of her estate, contending a mental-health clinic failed to give Hoge his vital medication.

The county settled for $800,000, and the estate had intended to give all of it to Kissinger's other surviving son, who lives in Oregon and also suffers from debilitating mental illness that requires constant care.

But Hoge, from his ward at Western State, sued for a portion of the settlement.

Hoge's attorney, Jean O'Loughlin of Tacoma, couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

Under the slayer statute, people who participate in "willful and unlawful" killings cannot receive benefits from their actions.

The state's high court has previously ruled that killings by legally insane people are unlawful, so what mattered in Hoge's case was whether the murder of his mother was "willful," said Mark Leemon, a Seattle attorney who represented Kissinger's estate.

"Just because you're not going to put a person in prison doesn't mean he is so faultless that he's going to collect a lot of money," Leemon said this morning.

In short, the court agreed with Leemon, saying that the record was clear that the killing of Pamela Kissinger was intentional, regardless of whether he was found not guilty and sent to a mental hospital.

However, the ruling doesn't create a blanket prohibition against all insane killers collecting in the future. The specific facts of the case are what matters, it said.

"Not every homicide committed by the criminally insane is willful and deliberate," the ruling said. "But the trial court made very specific findings ... that Hoge acted with premeditated intent when he killed his mother."

The ruling will finally allow the settlement money to go to Hoge's brother, who has been struggling financially while the case was in limbo, Leemon said.

"From our point of view, we couldn't be happier," Leemon said. "This is still a very painful situation. This is a family wound that will not close, so this will at least keep it from being brought up every couple of years."

Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com