Convicted felon arrested after former Washington Gov Jay Inslee granted clemency

Another convicted felon and career criminal who had his sentence commuted by former Governor Jay Inslee is back behind bars in Seattle. According to Fox 13, 69-year-old Eugene Smith was released from prison in 2021 after Inslee commuted his sentence for Robbery and Assault with a Deadly Weapon enhancement. He had been in prison since 1995.

After he was released from prison, he was on the Department of Corrections supervision until that ended in March of 2024. He has been in and out of prison since 1976 and escaped work release on two different occasions.

The Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force arrested Smith on Friday. He is facing three drug charges and his bail has been set at $100,000.

Exactly a week before, the same task force arrested one of the leaders of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County on almost a dozen drug and weapons charges after being granted clemency by Inslee in 2019.

After a warrant was served on Percy Levy’s home, officers found 2,818 grams of powder cocaine, 14.7 grams of rock cocaine, and 556 grams of fentanyl, enough to kill approximately 278,000, one-third the population of Snohomish County. Packaging material and a digital scale were also found, likely indicating distribution. A handgun was also located in the house.

Levy had become the poster child for criminal reform and often testified in the Washington Legislature in favor of bills that would ease sentencing and restrictions on felons. Levy had a criminal history dating back to when he was 13 years old. He spent 17 years in prison after a 2002 arrest for a drug house robbery.

Levy claimed to have dedicated himself to criminal justice reform. He worked as a community outreach specialist for the Washington Defender Association and founded Redemption Auto, a car dealership in Everett.

On his last day in office, Inslee signed an order allowing brutal murderer Timothy Pauley to be released from prison without ensuring safeguards for the victims’ families. Inslee signed the order the day after one of the victim's families buried their mother, who survived the 1980 massacre.

Washington's new Governor Bob Ferguson is currently reviewing the case and met with the victims' families on Monday. Pauley is scheduled to be released on March 27 unless Ferguson acts.