It wasn't the most congenial of living arrangements. In early July, on the day before the arson, Kalebu's aunt kicked Kalebu out of her apartment and filed for a restraining order against him. On the day after the arson, police questioned Kalebu, found no immediate cause to hold him, but kept him in mind as a "person of interest" in the crime.

A few days after all of this, on July 13, Kalebu showed up at the Regional Justice Center in Kent for a hearing related to his upcoming trial. It was actually a re-do; he'd failed to show up for the original hearing date on July 10, perhaps because of all the goings-on related to the arson investigation.

King County Superior Court Judge Brian Gain presided, and although the hearing proceeded without a lot of high drama, it's worth watching closely now because of what King County prosecutor Zac Hostetter asked for, what Judge Gain ruled, and what happened six days later.

Six days after this hearing concluded—with Judge Gain denying Hostetter's request that Kalebu be taken into custody on $50,000 bail—a man crawled through the window of a home in South Park where Teresa Butz and her partner were sleeping.

He raped them both and stabbed them both—Butz fatally. Police and prosecutors say DNA and fingerprint evidence proves that the man who did this was the man who was in Judge Gain's courtroom on July 13, the man who Hostetter wanted held: Isaiah M. Kalebu.

The crime in South Park unnerved the neighborhood and the city because of the gruesome brutality involved, and after Kalebu was arrested and charged with the rapes and the murder of Teresa Butz, a lot of questions arose about this particular hearing. People blamed Judge Gain. At the same time, a representative for the court tried to explain that the judge was bound by strict rules about when a defendant in a criminal case should be held or released.

There's been a bit of a discussion here about how much blame Judge Gain should actually take for his decision on July 13. There's also, I think, been some misunderstanding about just how forceful Hostetter was in arguing for Kalebu to be held. More on that later today, but for now check out the video—which The Stranger went to some lengths to turn into a digital file—and decide for yourself.

Tomorrow: Kalebu's pit bull approaches the bench.

Video wizardry: Kelly O.