http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=32751
$5 Million Bail For Curtis Thompson
August 25, 2004
By Tracy Vedder
SEATTLE - A Judge set an extraordinarily high $5 million bail for convicted rapist Curtis Thompson.
Police and prosecutors say Thompson attacked again Monday night in Seattle's University District.
The judge wouldn't let television cameras videotape Curtis Thompson's face when he walked into the courtroom, but the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Thompson was shackled, and an ultra high security inmate.
His face was emotionless. And the extra King County Jail staff on duty in the jail's courtroom was clearly on high alert.
That's part of the reason Deputy Prosecutor Scott O'Toole asked for an extraordinary $5 million bail: "He presents an extreme danger to society and an extreme danger - risk of flight."
Two nights ago, a surveillance videotape captured Thompson following two young women into a locked apartment building in the U-District. Police say he assaulted them, punched another tenant, and forced one woman to take her blouse off.
In the tape you can see the woman running outside to get away, and police officers there to arrest Thompson. It took at least five to hold him down.
"Because now he's got little to lose," describes Seattle Police Captain Neil Low of the action that night. "He's likely to go back as a 'three-strike' offender, so for him, getting away is everything and the violence level reflected that."
But Thompson's violent history doesn't begin on the videotape. Eighteen years ago, he was convicted of four rapes and another attempted rape.
"Extraordinarily violent," describes O'Toole, "involving the use of weapons, foreign objects to sexually assault a host of different women."
Captain Low's officers kept tabs on Thompson for the past 11 months. Thompson is a level three sex offender, who prosecutors wanted to keep behind bars as a sexual predator, but a jury decided otherwise.
In the past several months, Thompson moved several times -- always closer to the U-. District. He had trouble keeping a job, and wasn't adjusting well to life outside prison.
"In the outside world, it might have been unsafe for him," says Low. "It wasn't as structured and the wheels fell off the cart for him."
What happened Monday night, prosecutors say, is the result. "Our concern is that these victims feel unsafe; they feel vulnerable, he knows where they live," adds O'Toole. He hopes the high bail gives all the victims some sense of security.
Prosecutors expect to file charges by Thursday, They believe if convicted, it will be enough to put Thompson behind bars for the rest of his life.