A convicted felon is on the run in Washington state after simply walking out of a Snohomish County courtroom, and authorities are now asking the public for help tracking him down. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office says it is still searching for 39-year-old Kyle Hester, who slipped away from a courthouse in Everett on Friday. What should have been the routine end of a criminal trial instead turned into an embarrassing security lapse, with the man walking free from the very room where he had just been convicted.
According to deputies, the escape unfolded on Friday afternoon, at around half past two, inside the Everett courtroom. Moments after he was convicted, the judge told Hester that he would be taken into custody. It was at that point, deputies say, that he simply got up and walked right past the judge, untouched, and out of the courtroom. Rather than being detained on the spot, he made his way out of the building and disappeared before anyone could stop him.
Investigators say Hester did not leave alone. He got away alongside a woman, who was captured in a photo that the sheriff's office later posted to Facebook while appealing for information. Detectives say that, with help from members of the public, they now believe they have identified the woman seen with him. Even so, Hester himself remains at large, and the search for him has continued into the weekend as officers follow up on tips from the community.
Court records lay out the charges that brought Hester before a jury in the first place. He was on trial accused of dealing methamphetamine and of possessing a firearm, which he was legally barred from owning because of his criminal history. He had previously been convicted of residential burglary, a prior felony that made the weapons allegation possible. According to the records, the conduct behind the charges dates back to January of 2020, and the jury trial had only recently been set.
The circumstances of how he got out have drawn particular attention. Deputies say the prosecutor had asked that Hester be held with no bail until sentencing, citing the seriousness of the charges and the prison time he was facing. The judge granted that request for no bail. Yet in the moments right after that ruling, Hester rose from his seat and walked out of the courtroom, taking advantage of the brief window before he could be physically secured by officers.
According to accounts of the hearing, a miscommunication allowed Hester to reach a first-floor fire escape and leave the building. Because this had been an out-of-custody trial, there were no pre-arrangements or pre-arguments from the attorneys ahead of time about whether he would be taken into custody, and the marshals had not yet been summoned to the courtroom. Normally, officers would be standing ready to detain a defendant the moment a conviction is announced, but in this case that had not been put in place.
The sheriff's office says that when Hester is caught, he will likely face an additional charge of first-degree escape on top of the case he was already convicted in. For now, authorities are urging the public to stay alert while cautioning against any direct contact. Investigators say they do not believe Hester is armed and dangerous, but they are asking that anyone who spots him not approach and instead call 911 immediately so that deputies can move in and take him back into custody.