Overview
- On Dec. 5 outside the King County Courthouse, Jeanette Marken was struck in the face with a wooden board fitted with a screw, causing permanent blindness in her right eye and multiple facial fractures.
- King County deputies arrested 42-year-old Fale Vaigalepa Pea shortly after the assault, and prosecutors filed first-degree assault charges with a deadly-weapon enhancement.
- A judge set bail at $1 million, and proceedings are on hold for a court-ordered competency evaluation with the next hearing scheduled for Dec. 29.
- Newly released surveillance and bodycam video show officers immediately recognizing Pea and referring to him as “notorious” for random assaults on Third Avenue.
- Court and jail records cite a 2011 felony assault conviction, multiple recent misdemeanor assault convictions, and at least eight jail bookings in 2025, intensifying scrutiny of how repeat offenders are handled; the victim’s family has started a GoFundMe.