Tougher sentencing for domestic violence probation violations might have stopped Shawn Roe from taking the lives of a U.S. Forest Service officer and a local man Saturday, Roe’s former wife told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Mary White, who has lived in fear of Roe since she reported him to police for abusing her two years ago, said her ex-husband still had not gone to trial for violating bail in March 2007 while awaiting trial on domestic violence-related offenses. “Where the system stopped was the fact that it took so long for him to be held accountable in the courts for his violations,” said White.
Authorities say Roe, a convicted felon, fatally shot Kristine Fairbanks, a 15-year Forest Service veteran, after she pulled him over for a traffic stop near a campground. They believe he killed Richard Ziegler, 59, a retired corrections officer, and stole his pickup. Roe, 36, died in a shoot-out with sheriff’s deputies. Roe was arrested for violating probation in July, spent 30 days in jail and 30 days on home monitoring. He violated probation again in August. On Sept. 10, a corrections officer sought a warrant for his arrest, but a court had not issued one. Roe was ordered to turn in his weapons, but White said police had not recovered his arsenal. “Weapons were part of his persona,” she said. “I knew this entire time that Shawn was armed — Shawn not being armed was not a possibility.”
Link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/380140_sequim23.html