State board recommends clemency for MLT man convicted of armed robbery

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — With the support of the Snohomish County prosecutor, a state board Thursday recommended clemency for a Mountlake Terrace man imprisoned for a 2011 armed robbery.

In a unanimous vote, the state Clemency and Pardons Board, including former Seahawks wide receiver and activist Doug Baldwin, recognized Jorrell Hicks’ nearly 40-year sentence was far too long for the crimes he committed. The decision now goes to Gov. Jay Inslee for action.

A spokesperson for the governor said Inslee typically decides on clemency within a year of the board’s recommendation.

As a young man, Hicks trusted his friends, even ones he shouldn’t have, his mother Olivia told the board Thursday. Without a father figure, Hicks said he paid too much attention to negative influences, leading him to guns and drugs.

For two or three years, a friend, also from Mountlake Terrace, had been selling drugs for a man and woman, according to court documents. Hicks, his friend and a second friend needed money. So they decided to rob the man and woman of some drugs and then sell them.

The Mountlake Terrace friend asked the woman to meet. He wanted to buy 2 ounces of heroin for $2,800. They agreed to meet in the Old Spaghetti Factory parking lot in Lynnwood on the night of Aug. 16, 2011.

The man and woman went there together for the deal. But the woman was grabbing something from the trunk of her car when Hicks, then 24, came up from behind and demanded all of her belongings.

She gave her wallet to Hicks, who held her at gunpoint.

“No, all of your (expletive),” he reportedly responded.

She gave him her purse. Hicks turned his gun to the man and demanded his stuff, according to charges filed at the time in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The man told Hicks he didn’t have anything. Hicks ordered the woman to sit in the car then ran away, down 196th Street, to a neighboring parking lot where two men were waiting to flee in a Cadillac.

The woman followed the Cadillac. The driver led her on several turns as she followed before the cars were stopped next to each other and Hicks leaned out the passenger side window. He fired two shots at the man and woman he’d just robbed. One round hit the hood of their car.

The man who set up the fake deal told police the whole story, the charges say. Hicks denied the events.

Prosecutors reportedly offered Hicks a plea deal that would’ve left him with a sentence of about 16 years.

After a trial in Snohomish County Superior Court in 2012, a jury convicted Hicks of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery, drive-by shooting, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful firearm possession. He had prior felony convictions for second-degree assault, taking a motor vehicle without permission and drug possession. That last prior conviction would no longer affect his sentence because the state Supreme Court struck down the drug possession statute.

Superior Court Judge Bruce Weiss sentenced Hicks to 39½ years in prison. This included 13 years worth of firearm enhancements because he used a gun in the robbery and shooting.

Hicks’ co-conspirators both pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery. One got 3¾ years, the other six months.

On Thursday, Hicks’ attorney Prachi Dave pointed out this disparity in sentencing. She noted Hicks was the only Black defendant in the case. While in prison, Hicks has pushed to change the carceral system for the better, she told the board.

“The impact he’s made on the lives of the other men he’s encountered in prison is immeasurable,” said another of his attorneys, Skylar Brett. “But I like to think about it in terms of the clemency petitions that this board will never see because Jorrell successfully steered those other men away from violence and toward successful, productive lives. We can only imagine the impact he’ll be able to make if he’s released.”

Olivia Hicks has seen her son change, from someone who couldn’t be paid to read, to someone who reads vociferously. He now sees obstacles as something to overcome, not as a barrier. He doesn’t rush to judgment like he used to.

“I believe he does have the skills to make it in the world today,” she told the clemency board.

At the hearing, Hicks appeared via video conference from prison, his walls etched with the logos of the Mariners and Huskies. He apologized for his crimes and said he has “strived to become a better man.”

“I don’t presume that I deserve my freedom,” Hicks said. “I’ve made some horrible choices. I just want to make sure that I’m ready to do the right thing should that ever happen.”

The victims did not attend the hearing.

The board members credited outgoing Snohomish County Prosecutor Adam Cornell’s support for commutation in making their decisions. He called Hicks an “extraordinary” candidate for clemency.

“I wouldn’t be making this recommendation if I thought that Mr. Hicks’ release would compromise the safety of the community,” the elected prosecutor told the board. “In fact, I think the community in some ways — and the people that Mr. Hicks may be able to touch — may actually be safer with Mr. Hicks on the outside.”

Cornell also said Hicks may have been charged differently if he committed the same crimes today in Snohomish County. He pointed out the “significant” sentencing disparity between Hicks and the other defendants.

It’s not the first time this year Cornell has successfully pushed for clemency. In March, he recommended clemency for Reuben Hinton, sentenced to 40 years in the late 1990s for a shooting. In doing so, he convinced the victim to change his mind within minutes, from adamant opposition to agreeing commutation was a good idea. The board unanimously supported his push for commutation. In mid-July, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered Hinton released from custody by December 2023.

The clemency board recommended Hicks be released as soon as possible.

“What you’ve demonstrated to me is a consistency in your sincerity and your remorse,” Baldwin, the former football player, told Hicks, “and it’s my belief that you’ve done the work and the reflection in understanding the decisions that brought you here today.”

After release, Hicks plans to live and work on a farm in Olympia. He has too much history in Snohomish County to move back, his mother said.

Hearing of the decision, Hicks, now 35, thanked the board.

He said: ”I won’t let you guys down.”

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.