Appeals Court: Jury must decide if counties were negligent in Zamora murder case

A three-member panel of the state Court of Appeals has ruled that a jury must decide whether Skagit and Okanogan counties were negligent for taking no action to offer Isaac Zamora mental health treatment before his violent rampage left six people dead and four injured on Sept. 2, 2008.

A lawsuit by the estates of five of the people Zamora killed and the four people he injured alleged negligence by Okanogan and Skagit counties, the Skagit Emergency Communications Center and the state Department of Corrections.

In 2009, Zamora pleaded guilty to four of the murders and not guilty by reason of insanity to the other two. The rampage began in Alger, just south of the Whatcom County line, and continued until Zamora was arrested that day in Mount Vernon.

He was given a life sentence, to be served after he was deemed fit for prison following treatment at Western State.

In a decision filed Feb. 23, the Court of Appeals partially sided with the rampage victims, who lost their 2011 lawsuit to summary judgment in favor of the counties. The trial court had concluded that the counties “owed no duty to the victims” and even if they did, the victims and families didn’t prove the agencies’ failures directly led to the shootings

But the Court of Appeals said the families and victims demonstrated that “material questions of fact exist that, but for the counties’ alleged negligence, Zamora would not have engaged in the violent rampage.”

The appeals panel negated the decision that favored Skagit County and sent the case back to Snohomish County courts, which had made the original judgment, for trial.

Months before the rampage, the court record shows Zamora was booked into Skagit County Jail on District Court warrants on April 4, 2008, on suspicion of malicious mischief and possession of a controlled substance. On April 7, Zamora’s mother, Dennise, asked the jail staff to get her son mental health assistance because he refused to get treatment and medication.

The court documents note that Isaac Zamora saw mental health counselors in the jail on April 11 and 23, 2008. He was prescribed a mood stabilizer but refused to take it.

Zamora was transferred to Okanogan County Jail, which is paid to take Skagit’s jail overflow, that May 29. The court document said Okanogan jail staff noted Zamora exhibited no behavioral issues before his release on Aug. 2, 2008.

The victims and families claimed the counties knew or should have known about Zamora’s deteriorating mental health while he was in jail custody but failed to provide a thorough mental evaluation and treatment plan for his undiagnosed schizophrenia. They also claim the counties knew or should have known about Zamora’s “violent propensities.”

“Evidence in the record indicates that Skagit County was likely aware that Zamora had potentially dangerous and criminal inclinations,” the Appeals Court wrote.

The appeals ruling notes Zamora’s extensive criminal history in Skagit County. By September 2008, he had been arrested 21 times and incarcerated 11 times.

“Given these numerous contacts between Zamora and Skagit County, reasonable minds could conclude that Skagit County was aware of the risk posed by Zamora’s violent propensities,” the court wrote.

This story was originally published March 3, 2015 at 1:41 PM.