Abrams breaks window after escape attempt
Suppression hearing in murder case began Wednesday
EPHRATA — A 21-year-old murder defendant apparently removed a toilet and sink unit in his cell, took metal plumbing material from inside the wall to fashion a hammer and used that to make an escape attempt from Grant County Jail, the Grant County Sheriff's Office said.
During a routine inspection of the jail Tuesday, Dustin G. Abrams, 21, of Moses Lake, who is awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Michael B. Mallon, 79, Soap Lake, is now also charged with attempted escape and malicious mischief in Grant County Superior Court.
This was the only time someone has made a substantial effort to escape from the inside of the jail since it was opened in the 1980s, Chief Criminal Deputy John Turley said.
Correction officers moved Abrams to another cell to investigate the alleged escape attempt when he broke a vertical slit window out of the second cell, Turley said.
The estimated cost to repair the damage done to Abrams' cell is $5,000, plus the cost to fix the window of the second cell.
Abrams has been acting as his own attorney in the murder case, but chose to have defense provided to him in the alleged escape attempt case.
Abrams was in court during a suppression hearing on Wednesday to determine if statements he allegedly made to law enforcement officers will be admissible in his upcoming jury trial for the murder case.
A GCSO deputy told Abrams that he was not to speak to people in the public viewing benches as he was beginning a conversation with some family members.
"I'm a convicted convict, you can't talk to me," Abrams said, after being told of the rule. "Shut up, punk," Abrams said to the deputy.
Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell and Abrams both interviewed Jim Hartford, a correctional investigator from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, during the first day of hearings.
Hartford made arrangements for GCSO detectives to interview Abrams at the prison on two occasions in November of 2004.
It was during those two visits by investigators that Abrams allegedly confessed to killing Mallon.
On May 20, 2005 Abrams filed a civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court against Hartford and the two GCSO detectives who had obtained the alleged tape recording and written confessions of murder.
In the complaint, Abrams alleged that he was forced to confess after Hartford had punched him in the groin and choked him while he was handcuffed. The detectives were not in the room.
Abrams is requesting $1 million from each of the three officers in the complaint.