Suspect, attorneys scolded for release violations

Superior Court Judge Jerome Leveque was steaming Friday when he discovered that a first-degree murder suspect he released on electronic monitoring and $200,000 bail had ignored orders not to drink alcohol and to be tested regularly for drug and alcohol use.

Dennis Yung O’Hair, 29, was charged in December 2003 with the December 1999 beating death of Jason Richard Schulwitz, who was suspected of having ties to Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. O’Hair is scheduled for trial on Oct. 31.

Schulwitz’s body was found stuffed in a garbage can inside a vehicle parked at the Fred Meyer store, 15609 E. Sprague. The victim’s hands, feet and face had been bound with duct tape.

O’Hair was summoned to court Friday because a court clerk reported seeing him buy three beers Nov. 2 during the Pig Out in the Park event at Riverfront Park, giving one to his girlfriend and keeping two for himself.

Leveque tightened the conditions of O’Hair’s release but allowed him to remain free. The judge ordered O’Hair to report to a court-approved drug- and alcohol-testing agency Friday or report to jail.

O’Hair’s attorney, Doug Phelps, said he hadn’t been aware that O’Hair was to be monitored for drugs and alcohol as well as his whereabouts – even though Phelps drafted the order containing the requirement.

Leveque said there was some ambiguity about the frequency of drug and alcohol monitoring reports, but he left no room for misunderstandings in a revised order that is to be signed next week. The order will require weekly testing and reports.

“If you have to read it every morning, you have to read it every morning,” Leveque told O’Hair.

The judge lost patience when Phelps asked whether O’Hair would be allowed to work at a restaurant that serves alcohol. Pressed for details, Phelps named a bar that serves food.

Leveque had been prepared to accept a restaurant, but abruptly prohibited O’Hair from working anywhere that sells alcohol.

Even Deputy Prosecutor Larry Steinmetz, who called for O’Hair to be jailed, got a dose of Leveque’s displeasure.

Steinmetz’s questions Friday revealed that O’Hair never reported for any of the drug and alcohol testing that Leveque ordered in June 2004 when he authorized O’Hair’s release.

“My order, my letters, asked that you follow up as well,” Leveque told Steinmetz. “… I didn’t hear anything from you, either.”

Phelps was doubly roasted on that issue.

“Whose obligation was this?” Leveque snapped when Phelps said he was unaware of the requirement for drug and alcohol testing.

“Whose obligation?” Phelps responded. “It’s mine.”

Indeed it is, Leveque said, and Phelps’ client will go to jail if Phelps fails again.

Leveque noted he had occasionally liberalized O’Hair’s release conditions because of reports that O’Hair was complying well.

The judge said he considered the violations “a slap in the face” and “a cavalier approach” by Phelps as well as O’Hair.

“To the extent that I had absolute trust in Mr. O’Hair, I am disappointed that he drank that beer,” Phelps said.

“And you should be disappointed that you didn’t keep me informed,” Leveque responded.

O’Hair, as the person whose freedom is at risk, is “primarily and absolutely” responsible for understanding the release order, Leveque said.

The order restricts O’Hair’s movements and prohibits him from driving but allows him to be away from his home in the 3700 block of East Congress from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. O’Hair’s movements are tracked continuously by the private Second Watch monitoring company, which uses global positioning satellite signals and a cellular telephone system to pinpoint O’Hair’s location at any time.

Pete Black, co-owner of Second Watch, testified Friday that O’Hair has complied well with the restrictions on his movements.

“I wish more people were as compliant,” Black said.

He might have had Jeremy Arnold in mind. Black was monitoring Arnold’s movements in May when Arnold absconded from a furlough while awaiting sentencing for two counts of second-degree robbery, three counts of intimidating witnesses and five counts of second-degree burglary.

O’Hair remained silent Friday, but Phelps said he had “emphasized to him that it is unusual, given the nature of the charges, that he is out on these conditions, and he respects that.”