2 men have been recharged with Pierce County murders after release from state hospital
Two men whose Pierce County murder cases were dismissed over mental-competency issues have been recharged after being released from a state psychiatric hospital.
Both Kurt Otto Alan Youngers, 60, and Antonio Ray Perez, 32, are charged with first-degree murder and were to be arraigned Thursday in Pierce County Superior Court.
Youngers is accused of shooting his father, 78-year-old Otto Youngers, in the face and killing him on Feb. 1, 2018. Court records indicate the defendant thought his father was a Nazi and had killed the defendant's best friend.
Questions arose about Kurt Youngers' competency to stand trial, and the case was dismissed in November 2018 when attempts to restore his competency were unsuccessful. He then was committed indefinitely to Western State Hospital, records show.
Antonio Ray Perez, 32, is accused in the April 2022 strangling death of his grandfather, 80-year-old Raymond Leroy Plattner. He was diagnosed with delusional disorder, persecutory type by a state evaluator, The News Tribune previously reported.
Questions also arose about Perez's competency to stand trial, and his case was dismissed in January 2024 when attempts to restore his competency were unsuccessful. He, too, was committed indefinitely to Western State Hospital.
Prosecutors dismissed cases against both men without prejudice, meaning charges could be reinstated if circumstances regarding the defendants' mental health changed.
They learned recently that both men had been released from the state hospital to an intensive behavioral health treatment facility in Olympia, court records show.
In the case of Youngers, prosecutors learned that his prescriptions for psychotropic medications were suspended in 2019 because they were deemed no longer necessary and that he was released to the Supreme Living facility in Olympia in January 2025.
'During his time at Supreme Living, records indicate the defendant has requested independent living. Given the nature of the underlying charge in this case, the state is requesting a warrant issue for the defendant's arrest,' prosecutors wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed in Superior Court earlier this month.
Youngers was booked into the jail on that warrant Wednesday, jail records show.
In the case of Perez, prosecutors learned that the defendant was evaluated at Western State Hospital in May 2024.
'The clinical staff noted that they recognized that the defendant was assessed as being at moderate to high risk of violence' but that if stayed on his treatment plan the likelihood of serious harm 'wasn't evident,' prosecutors wrote in a new affidavit of probable cause.
He then was released to Supreme Living, where in Februrary 2025 he was accused of violating multiple conditions of his release and was set for 'eviction' from the facility later this month.
A warrant was requested for his arrest, and he was booked into the jail Wednesday.
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