A King County Superior Court judge dismissed two first-degree murder charges Thursday against a Seattle man accused of killing two men with an ax in separate at
A King County Superior Court judge dismissed two first-degree murder charges Thursday against a Seattle man accused of killing two men with an ax in separate attacks after finding him mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Judge Nelson Lee found Liam Harrison Kryger incompetent based on medical reports and dismissed the criminal case during a brief hearing Thursday. Lee also signed an order directing Kryger to undergo a civil commitment evaluation.
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Kryger appeared for the hearing by Zoom with his attorney. King County prosecutor Alexandra Logan represented the state. The hearing lasted less than three minutes.
Kryger had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the February 2024 deaths of Paul Ernest Ewell and Daravuth Van. Prosecutors alleged Kryger was armed with an ax in both killings.
The first amended charging document, filed in May 2024, accused Kryger of killing Ewell on Feb. 10 and Van on Feb. 22.
Seattle police said Ewell was found dead the morning of Feb. 10, 2024, in an alcove in the back parking lot of the Seattle Men’s Chorus at 319 12th Ave. According to a police probable cause statement, Ewell appeared to have been sleeping and was partially covered by a blanket. Investigators said he suffered severe injuries to his face and skull.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Ewell’s fatal injuries were caused by a heavy, sharp object similar to a hatchet, ax or maul and that he had been struck in the head at least three times, according to the police account.
Police said surveillance video showed a man carrying what appeared to be an ax near the scene around the time Ewell was killed. Prosecutors later said investigators developed evidence supporting probable cause that Kryger killed Ewell with premeditated intent and moved to add the second murder charge to the case.
Less than two weeks later, Van was found dead outside Town Hall Seattle at 1119 Eighth Ave. Police said Van had been sleeping under blankets with luggage nearby when he was attacked.
Prosecutors alleged surveillance video showed Kryger passing Van several times before returning shortly before 3:30 a.m. Investigators said the video showed him approaching slowly, looking around and swinging a long-handled weapon downward where Van was lying.
The medical examiner found Van suffered a fatal head injury caused by a sharp, blunt-force object. His cash, identification and other belongings appeared undisturbed.
Detectives arrested Kryger on March 3, 2024. Police said he acknowledged that he was the person depicted in surveillance images taken near the Town Hall scene.
Prosecutors initially charged Kryger with one count of first-degree murder in Van’s death, alleging he acted with premeditated intent and was armed with an ax. They later alleged the two victims were unhoused men who had been targeted while sleeping outside less than two weeks apart.
According to a representative, Kryger went through three rounds of competency restoration, each lasting months at a time. At the end of those three restoration periods, a forensic evaluator with the Department of Social and Health Services assessed that he remained incompetent.
Not guilty by reason of insanity is not the same as competency. A judge considers a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity defense based on a defendant’s mental state at the time of the crime.
Competency looks at someone’s mental state at a given moment in time during a court case and determines if they can understand the nature of the proceedings and assist in their own defense. For a defendant to enter a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity plea, they must be competent.
Thursday’s dismissal ends the criminal case following the finding that Kryger is incompetent. It does not amount to an acquittal or a determination of whether he committed the killings.
Lee’s order directs that Kryger be evaluated for civil commitment, a separate legal process from the now-dismissed criminal prosecution, and a notice of ineligibility to possess a firearm was signed.
King County noted that, while the murder case has been dismissed, this does not mean Kryger is being released to the streets.
"When someone is found not competent, and there are no other options under the law to move a criminal case forward, there is a commitment to a facility like Western State for a civil commitment evaluation," a representative said.
If a long-term civil commitment is appropriate, which is anticipated in this case, Western State or a similar facility would file a petition for civil commitment separate from the prosecutor’s office.
However, if Kryger’s competency presentation were to improve in the future, state law provides certain provisions for notifications to prosecutors, and murder charges could be re-filed.
