On Tuesday, King County filed a motion in King County Superior Court, asking a judge to award the county $219.90 per day for every day the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) fails to transport defendant Alexander Jay to Western State Psychiatric Hospital for court-ordered treatment. Jay, age 40, was charged with assaulting a nurse in a Seattle light rail station and another woman at a bus stop in March. In April, Jay was found incompetent to stand trial and DSHS was directed to transport him for mental health treatment within the seven-day legal time frame. That was nearly eight months ago. Jay is still waiting in King County Jail for a bed at Western State. Since the original charges, Jay has also been charged with murdering a man on Capitol Hill. In the motion, the county said it is incurring “unnecessary costs” by housing a seriously mentally ill defendant that DSHS has the legal obligation to care for - and that the “County should be compensated for its losses.” “As I’ve said many times, the county jail is not a behavioral health facility. But for too many that’s exactly what it has become. This failure to provide court mandated care impacts those awaiting justice,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine in a written statement. Alexander Jay is one of more than a record-number of 100 mentally ill defendants waiting in the King County Jail for a bed at Western State Hospital. The county filed what are called “Motions to Intervene” in cases involving seven of those defendants on Tuesday. More motions are expected to be filed in cases involving other defendants who are waiting. READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/king-county-legal-action-against-dshs/281-2e4082b1-4340-46b1-af3f-12d26e7e2953