Freelance, huh. You mean Stranger writer, right?

Stop, stop, he's already dead!

@1 Matt Hickey was never employed by The Stranger.

@3....is that a technicality you want to expand on?

"Articles by Matt Hickey"
https://www.thestranger.com/authors/1495…

@4 Hickey has written and taken photographs for The Stranger on a freelance basis, but was never an employee here.

@5: Did he file a 1099 with The Stranger?

Jesus people, yeah he was a Stranger freelancer. So what? He didn't found the company or anything. John Wayne Gacy worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Even criminals have everyday jobs to pay their bills.

@7: Ooops.... Urgutha's right.

But if you guys want to boycott the Stranger forever because they made Matt Hickey what he is, well, who am I to argue? Walk the walk, right?

Bye-eeeee

ahh - he's not one of your except when he was...but not officially. doublespeak.

whether or not he took photos for the stranger in exchange for money at some point before anyone knew he was scamming women into fucking him definitely seems like a point worth driving into the ground here guys, way to go. he may have even paid his internet bill with money he earned from his freelance work here, which means the stranger is complicit, maybe!!!!

If any publication that brought Matt Hickey to Justice, it was The Stranger. Sydney Brownstone should seriously be up for a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting.. No matter that Matt Hickey was a serial rapist who should spend a decade or more in prison for his rapes and assaults, I am glad he pled guilty to a couple felonies and will be listed as a Sex Offender..

#12 - The reporting was essential in this resolution. I don't have the ability to describe what I am feeling but Ms. Brownstone is honestly a hero. Even this article, which includes the description of facial expressions from the victim (along with approval to quote...), demonstrates something unusual in this city which is 360 degree reporting not the regurgitation of LE statements and court documents. The USA Gymnasts victim statements set the emotion today as well.

Thank you a million times over.

@12 ferret and @13 Upside: Agreed.
Once again thank you, Sydney Brownstone, for continuous excellence in journalism.
May Matt Hickey rot in prison along with Trumpzilla, Pencezilla, and their Cabinet of Swamp Creatures--and all held fully accountable.

Sydney's persistence was the reason Seattle learned there was a serial rapist at large, whose extensive crimes were unknown to police, and - along with the bravery of victims who came forward - among the reasons a guilty plea was his only real option. I asked Sydney if she had any hesitation about investigating a former Stranger freelancer as a rapist and fraud. Just the opposite, she said. He used his media savvy to develop the porn-producer scam, a duplicity she was eager to expose.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seat…

I have no legal savvy, but when someone accepts (and especially if they initiate) a plea deal, that basically means they are pleading guilty to something because they are [probably, allegedly, whatever] actually guilty of something worse, yes? And agreeing to have this particular book thrown at them saves them from having a bigger, heavier book thrown at them?

Let's put a fine point on this: If Hickey were to have been a stand up person If, he had say, won a Pulitzer for his writing, The Stranger would always mention it in anything about him. It is a curious thing with entities in Seattle. If you are good, Seattle will claim you even if you aren't technically from there, just lived in the region. (Cobain, Hendrix, etc., etc.) Not cool to the failed? You are a non-person. (Queensryche, Alice in Chains, Chris Cornell, on and on. )

@17 That doesn't make any fucking sense..

@17: Yeah, when Chris Cornell died, Seattle simply ignored it. We know because his image immediately appeared on the covers of the Stranger and the Weekly, and KEXP spent an entire day of programming playing his music. Bumbershoot had an exhibit of photographs taken during Soundgarden's early career.

Please let us know exactly which strain(s) of cannabis you're using, and where you bought.

Congrats Syd, you got a mere 4 months added on to what Matt was asking for anyways.
And how DARE his defense attorney try to.. DEFEND his client like that! You'd think this was America or something.

new screen name bro

Lucky boy

@16 there is something called an Alford Plea, which one can plead guilty without admitting guilt - say, if you don't think you can get a fair trial. A general plea does require an admission of guilt, however.

#1, #3, #10 etc.: Brownstone identified Hickey as a former freelance writer and photog for the Stranger in her first published article about the case, so, your point?

To shed some light on how easy Hickey got off and why he took this deal consider that he’ll be done with his sentence and back on the streets in September.

He got 34 months. In Washington State you automatically get 1/3 off your sentence for good behavior. His actual time served will be just shy of 23 months. He’s been in King County Jail since November 2016, or 14 months. With credit for the 14 months he’s already served in jail he’s got just 9 more months to go on his sentence.

This week he’ll get shipped to the Washington State DOC receiving facility in Shelton where it will take about 90 days for him to be classified. Once he’s classified he’ll only have 6 months left so he’ll get classified directly into a work release program. In work release he’ll be able to wear his own clothes and get out for up to 12 hours a day to go to work or look for a job. He’ll never even see the inside of a penitentiary.

Good, fuck that guy. Glad I read the comments for the gourmet hot takes. I actually got blisters from kissing my fingers so hard.

#25 - My understanding is that he will not get credit for time already served. Can't confirm my sources 100%, but that's what my understanding is.

#27 - That would be awesome but I’ve never seen a case in this state where time served awaiting trial/plea wasn’t credited. There wouldn’t have been any incentive for him to take a deal like that. Bible would have never let him take a deal like that. Bible was confident and ready to take it to trial. Hickey’s incentive after 14 months in jail was avoiding prison and finally knowing definitively when he’ll be out, which will be September.