Mother of Victim Details Deadly Mistakes to State Attorney General
Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel
Dorothy Ulrich was brutally murdered in her home in Hoopa by alleged suspect Jason Warren, a parolee awaiting sentencing on another matter.
After killing Ms. Ulrich, Warren stole her vehicle and drove to Eureka where it’s believed he ran down three joggers killing one of them, Suzanne Seemann, a professor at California State University Humboldt.
Last week, the Two Rivers Tribune published a letter written by the mother of victim Dorothy Ulrich to Kamala Harris, the Attorney General of California. In the letter, Ulrich’s mother details the mistakes that were made granting the release of Warren allowing him to embark on his murderous spree.
In her letter, Dorothy’s mother asks:
Why was Jason Warren released on a Cruz waiver when the Court and District Attorney very well knew of his previous violent charges and history?- Why did the Deputy District Attorney, Zach Curtis, utter ‘No Objection’ to Warren’s release?
- Why was Warren released when he had no address and was reportedly ‘homeless’ at the time?
- Did the Judge and DA really expect Warren, free for two weeks after being granted his temporary waiver release, to return to Court and be sent to prison
for his 4-year sentence? Why wasn’t he simply remanded to
custody until his prison transfer? - Why wasn’t his parole agent notified of his release? Why was Warren released without any supervision whatsoever?
And the most important point of all: Dorothy Ulrich, one of Warren’s previous victims, was never notified of Warren’s release.
Dorothy Ulrich had no idea Warren was released from custody. And Warren consequently killed her. Had she been notified as a victim– as required under the Victim’s Bill of Rights and Marcy’s Law– she would have been aware of the extreme danger she was in. Ulrich would have been able to protect herself, flee, or otherwise remove herself from the life-threatening danger that the Court and District Attorney erringly imposed upon her.
Dorothy Ulrich died because of their failure to notify her as a victim.
Adding further insult to injury, Dorothy’s mother concluded in her letter:
(Deputy District Attorney) Zack Curtis wasn’t the final decision maker. Judge Timothy Cissna was the judge that issued the order.
It seems now that everyone involved in Warren’s case have closed ranks and refuse to offer any further explanation to me, the other victims and their families, or the citizens of Humboldt County.
We feel an explanation is clearly in order. Bluntly put, Judge Cissna and Deputy District Attorney Zach Curtis dropped the ball allowing Warren’s release. Dorothy Ulrich’s mother even asked if either party– the Court or the District Attorney’s Office– had even bothered or taken the time to read Warren’s court file containing information addressing the above concerns.
The letter in the Two Rivers Tribune is a very knowledgeable, detailed, and well-written piece.
We’d like to bring the matter to your attention before it’s shamelessly swept under the rug and down the memory hole as if it never had happened. It is a travesty– and the community should be duly outraged.
We encourage you to read the full letter here and make up your own mind as to whether there was a critical and deadly breakdown of justice allowing Dorothy Ulrich and Suzanne Seeman to be murdered in cold blood by a felon with a violent past who never should have been released in the first place.
We hope Attorney General Kamala Harris orders a complete review of this case to ensure it never, ever, happens again– and that our public safety servants perform their jobs that they’re appointed to do.
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(Posted by Skippy Massey)
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