The original Dec.1 extension of Siaumau Sanele Auseuga’s sentencing hearing has expired without resolution.

In 2021, Auseuga was pulled over by officers from the Jefferson County Sheriff Department for a vehicle registration violation. In the process of performing a license verification, it was discovered that Auseuga had a prior felony from a 2015 domestic violence conviction and that his license had been recently revoked.

Auseuga’s pockets were found to contain two mismatched 9mm bullets and a subsequent search of the vehicle he was driving identified a loaded handgun with similar mismatched ammunition.

As state and federal law make it illegal for convicted felons to be in the possession of firearms, Auseuga was tried and convicted for illegal possession of a firearm.

The initial sentencing hearing on Nov. 17 took what some considered an unanticipated turn. After deliberating over the arguments made by opposing council, Judge Brandon Mack, a first-year Superior Court judge, requested that the defense and prosecution confer further and return on Dec. 1 to identify a potential path forward that did not involve placing Auseuga in prison for a victimless crime.

On the morning of Dec. 1, the parties entered the courtroom while Auseuga appeared from county jail via Zoom. Subsequent discussions were brief and a delay was scheduled before Auseuga was escorted off camera.

Since that date, additional information has been obtained from officials and public records.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, while it was purported during the original trial that a witness, Miranda Palmer, claimed ownership of the gun found in the vehicle, there was never any evidence that the gun had been legally transferred into Palmer’s possession.

Furthermore, officials noted that no evidence exists that Palmer ever submitted to the mandatory background check that is required for firearm ownership in the state of Washington.

In fact, at the time Auseuga was pulled over for the vehicle registration violation, the gun was registered to Brian King. King is a current resident of the state penal system after he was convicted of second degree murder in the death of Krystal Storm LeBoeuf in Spanaway, Washington.

Since the original sentencing hearing, additional accusations have been filed against Auseuga. As described in a Declaration of Probable Cause document filed on Nov. 30 by James Kennedy, a Jefferson County deputy prosecuting attorney, county sheriff’s deputies interviewed a Tacoma man regarding multiple life-threatening text messages that Auseuga allegedly sent while incarcerated in the Jefferson County jail.

According to the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), a person is guilty of harassment if he or she knowingly threatens to cause bodily injury to another individual.

Separately, a Jail Incident Report involving Auseuga was filed with the office of the District Attorney. According to the narrative report, on Dec. 4 a verbal dispute over the volume of the jail’s television apparently took place between Auseuga and a second inmate. At a later point in the day, the report claims that Auseuga attacked the same man while he was asleep. The document was forwarded to the prosecutor for charges of Assault in the 4th Degree, a gross misdemeanor.  

This past Friday, a hearing was scheduled to address the various aspects of the Auseuga case(s). As Auseuga did not appear, the hearing was postponed until the following Monday, Dec. 11, at 11 a.m.