Washington court to decide whether a son who killed his mother can inherit her estate

The following is from Natalie Singer, Son seeks estate of mother he killed, seattletimes.nwsource.com, Jan. 3, 2008:

From inside Western State [Hospital], where he’s spent most of his time since stabbing his mother and brother to death with a butcher knife in 1999, Hoge is fighting to inherit part of his mother’s estate. ***

After Hoge killed his mother, Pamela Kissinger, her family won $800,000 in a civil suit against King County when it was determined that a public-health clinic had failed to give Hoge his medication and was partially responsible for the slayings.

Hoge’s claim to that money is now poised to set legal precedent for interpretation of Washington’s sometimes-vague Slayer Statute: the law that prohibits most killers from profiting off their victims.***

The Slayer Statute is designed to prevent those guilty of two key things — a “willful” and “unlawful” killing — from profiting from their crimes.  While some states have decided whether people found not guilty by reason of insanity can inherit the estates of their victims, Washington has not.

Special thanks to Deborah Letz (attorney, San Antonio, Texas) and for bringing this situation to my attention.