Eastern State chief resigns, cites killer's escape

The head of Eastern State Hospital has resigned amid widespread outrage over the escape last week of a schizophrenic killer during a hospital-sanctioned outing to a Spokane fair.

In a resignation letter submitted Tuesday, Harold "Hal" Wilson, chief executive officer of the hospital for the past 10 years, said he was stepping down with "a saddened heart." He cited the controversy over the escape last Thursday of Phillip Arnold Paul as the reason behind his resignation, effective Oct. 1

"Hopefully, this move will help to signify that a change in leadership at the Hospital is being taken and that new vision and direction can be brought forth to lead the Hospital," he wrote in his letter of resignation.

Wilson has defended the hospital's policy of allowing patients to go on therapeutic field trips and other outings. In his letter, he wrote that he "can only hope that we can overcome public sentiment and once again provide the treatment for our patients that they so desperately need."

Paul, 47, was committed to Eastern after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1987 for the slaying of a 78-year-old woman in Lower Yakima Valley. Last Thursday, during a field trip to the Spokane County Interstate Fair with 30 other Eastern patients and 11 staff members, Paul slipped away.

He surrendered three days later in Goldendale, Klickitat County, after an extensive manhunt.

The escape and the hospital's practice of allowing criminal patients to go on outings have drawn sharp criticism from the public, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and Gov. Chris Gregoire. The state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), which oversees the state's three mental institutions, immediately halted all outings for criminal patients and launched an investigation into the institutions' security.

Doug Porter, the assistant secretary of DSHS' Health and Recovery Services Administration, said Wilson's resignation will not take the heat off Eastern State Hospital.

"That may be what he wishes," Porter said Wednesday. "But unfortunately, I think this is going to be a tough time for everybody at Eastern until we get more resolution.

"We have to determine where the fault lies and who was responsible for the decision-making."

DSHS Secretary Susan Dreyfus is scheduled to share the preliminary results of the investigation Oct. 2.

Among the issues being scrutinized, according to Porter, are the differences in field-trip policies between Western State Hospital in Lakewood, Pierce County, and Eastern, which is in Medical Lake, Spokane County. Porter said Western does not allow forensic patients to go on outings.

"If this gentleman had been committed to Western, he would not have been at a fair," Porter said. "It's a concern to me that they have very different policies."

According to court records, Paul slit the throat of Ruth Mottley after he heard "voices" instructing him to kill her.

Despite the outrage over his escape during the field trip to the fair, Paul has been in and out of Eastern for years, according to records.

He briefly escaped from Eastern in 1990.

Two years later, while under medication, he was allowed to leave the institution to take classes at a Spokane Falls Community College and was working 30 hours a week at a furniture store, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.

Over the next few years, the newspaper reported, Paul was released into the community for periods of time and then ordered back to Eastern when his mental condition deteriorated, usually because of his refusal to take his medications.

In 2005, he was approved for a conditional release to an assisted-living facility in Spokane and fathered a child.

According to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, Paul apparently began to plan Thursday's escape in January, when a judge ordered him back to Eastern after he refused to take his medication and was seen in a pawnshop where weapons are sold.

Wilson came to work at Eastern as an accountant 28 years ago. His annual salary as CEO is $97,536. Eastern's chief operating officer, Connie Wilmot, will serve as acting chief of the hospital while DSHS begins a search for Wilson's replacement.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com