Washington Man Charged in Brutal Home Invasion Days After Judge Declined to Jail Him

July 28, 2009— -- If prosecutors had their way, Isaiah Kalebu would have been sitting in a jail cell the night of July 19.

Instead, police say Kalebu crawled inside a Seattle couple's open window before brutalizing two women who later staggered out into the street, bleeding and pleading for help. Both women had been raped and stabbed. One died of her injuries.

The attack came six days after a King County prosecutor went before Superior Court Judge Brian Gain to ask that Kalebu be returned to jail after being released on his own recognizance in August 2008. The prosecutors argued that Kalebu, originally charged with felony harrassment of his own mother, had now become a suspect in an arson fire that killed Kalebu's aunt and a former NFL quarterback.

Gain denied the request and Kalebu remained free.

Gain was also the judge who had allowed Kalebu released with no bail in August 2008 after he was charged with threatening to kill his mother. At the time, prosecutors had requested his bail be put at $25,000.

Kalebu is now back in jail on investigation of murder, rape, attempted murder and burglary. A different judge set his bail this time at $10 million.

The July 19 attack on the two women, Teresa Butz and her longtime partner, became known as the South Park murder, after the neighborhood where they lived.

According to a police report, neighbors on South Rose Street were awakened shortly after 3 a.m. by the terrified pleading of Butz and her partner, who had just escaped from their home.

Butz told neighbor Albert Barrientes before dying, "He told us if we did what he asked us to do, he wouldn't hurt us. He lied, he lied," according to the Associated Press.

Fingerprints left at the scene and DNA from bodily fluids in the women's house later identified the suspect as Kalebu. He was arrested five days after the attack.

"My family is forgiving this man," Teresa Butz's brother, Tim Butz, told KOMO. "But make no mistake, we believe in justice. We believe in swift justice. We believe in harsh justice. This man is going to be forgiven, but justice is coming."

Kalebu's court-appointed attorney Phillip Tavel said his client is next due in court Wednesday where he expects prosecutors to file formal charges. Tavel said Kalebu will plead not guilty.

Tavel had argued for a lowered bail of $50,000 to $100,000 when Kalebu was arraigned, but wasn't surprised his request was turned down.

"I knew going [because of] the severity of the charges ... that they were going to set bail as high as possible," Tavel told ABCNews.com

The King County prosecting attorney's office declined to comment on Gain's refusal to jail Kalebu before the South Park attack. Seattle police also declined to comment on anything beyond Kalebu's arrest. A police department spokesman said it was not department policy to comment on judgments or actions of outside agencies.

But prosecuting attorney's office spokesman Dan Donahoe said his office's request to lock up Kalebu was based on his known mental instability and the role investigators think he may have played in the July 9 fire that killed his aunt, Rachel Kalebu, 61, and former NFL quarterback John Eddie Jones, 57.

Gain could not be reached for comment.