Crime & Courts

A jury is still considering charges filed against a Juneau man for stealing a truck and ramming it into the front of the Alaskan Brewing Company. Deliberations on charges against Michael Rae lasted 6 1/2 hours on Friday before jurors decided to go home for the weekend. Some of the questions submitted to the court included a request to hear an investigator’s testimony again and whether they could deliberate until courthouse closing hours.

Last April, employees of the Alaskan Brewing Company arrived at work to find the front door to the brewery’s gift shop and tasting room smashed in and several six-packs, a case, a few kegs of beer missing. A bumper was left behind that was traced to a truck apparently stolen from the nearby Lemon Creek Breeze-in store.

Police arrested 54-year old Rae at his residence in the Switzer Village trailer park where he allegedly unloaded the beer. But evidence obtained during execution of a search warrant at Rae’s trailer was declared inadmissible. Most of the prosecution’s direct evidence hinges on a disgruntled former roommate who was camping in his van near the trailer on the night of the burglary.

Repairs to the truck and brewery cost over $13,000. Value of the beer was appoximately $517.

The trial started on Monday with jury selection.

During closing arguments Friday morning, defense attorney Kevin Higgins said prosecutors have evidence of a crime, but no proof that Rae did it. The prosecution provided a shaky witness – that former roommate John McGillis — who could not consistently remember details.

“And because of that, he’s the weakest link in the case,” said Higgins. “And because of that, this unbroken chain of events does not link to Michael Rae.”

District Attorney Dave Brower on Thursday showed videotape of the Breeze-In truck going back and forth between the brewery and Rae’s residence in Switzer Village. He disputed the claim that his witness provided inconsistent testimony.

“John McGillis’s testimony, standing by itself, might be a hard pill to swallow,” admitted Brower during closing arguements on Friday. “But standing with those videos that corroborate everything that he told Detective (Krag) Campbell, points directly to Michael Rae.”

Rae’s disruptive behavior in the courtroom prompted recently-installed Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez to frequently warn him that the trial could be held without his presence. But there were no disruptions from Rae as the case was sent to the jury on Friday.

A twelve-person jury has started deliberations in the brewery burglary case.

Michael Rae of Juneau is accused of stealing a convenience store van and crashing it into a door at Alaskan Brewing Company so he could grab some beer last April.

Closing arguments were held Friday morning in Juneau Superior Court.

Prosecutors say they have video footage of the Breeze-In truck going back and forth between the brewery and Rae’s residence in Switzer Village.

Rae’s defense says the prosecution’s main witness is not credible and there’s no solid proof that Rae did the crime.

Pictures of beer bottles are now evidence in an ongoing Juneau case.

“This evidence, if it’s presented to the jury, would be admissible,” said Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez.

That ruling was issued Thursday by Menendez during the trial of a Juneau man accused of ramming a truck into the Alaskan Brewing Company to steal beer. It’s at least the second test of constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure in this case. This time, it had a different result.

Michael Rae, 54, is accused of theft, burglary, criminal mischief, and vehicle theft in connection with the April 29th incident. He allegedly used a truck taken from the Lemon Creek Breeze-In to crash open the door to the brewery’s gift shop and tasting room. Several six-packs, a case, and two kegs that included different varieties of Alaskan Brewing Company beer were allegedly taken.
Officers served a search warrant at Rae’s residence when they arrested him. But there’s no record of officers establishing probable cause before a judge and no way to tell if the search was conducted outside boundaries of the warrant. As a result, any evidence obtained inside the Switzer Village trailer has been suppressed. Jurors will never know what, if anything, was found.

But what about outside the trailer? Prosecutors also proposed circumstantial evidence in the form of pictures taken by officers during Rae’s arrest. They apparently show Alaska Brewing beer bottles, either intact or broken and fragmented, in the driveway or in a small partially-opened storage shed or lean-to outside. Rae who was already labeled as potentially hostile to police was also allegedly was holding a bottle of Alaskan Brewing IPA with the bright green label in his hand outside the trailer when officers arrived.

“Here we have a very deminimus situation where we have the officer, who’s not even ascended the steps, (and) he’s essentially in the area,” said Judge Menendez. “Right before the steps where he makes these observations which, I believe, are in plain view.”

There are several key exceptions to the requirement for a search warrant. They include consent to a search, what is seen in plain view, and a search of a suspect and their immediate area during an arrest.

One key case that Menendez cites is State of Alaska vs. Ahkivagak decided by the Alaska Court of Appeals in 1986. North Slope Borough police officers went to the home of a suspect in the burglary of a Barrow store. The mother let the two officers in. They went upstairs to find the man and got separated. One of the officers walked into a part of the house where he spotted stereo boxes in plain view matching the description of the stolen items. Appeals court judges ruled that it was a proper seizure.

In the Michael Rae case, Menendez also says the exception of a search incident to an arrest applies to the instant that an officer took that green-labled bottle of IPA.

“The beer had to be taken out of his hand and put somewhere,” said Judge Menendez.

After Judge Menendez’s ruling and a careful documentation of the pictures for a possible appeal, the pictures were shown to the jury. The state rested its case and the defense called to the stand a Lemon Creek Correctional Center employee. He testified that a third man, Rafael Flores, who was an apparent resident of Rae’s trailer, was actually in jail last April. That may have been intended to undermine the credibility and raise questions about the memory of the prosecution’s key witness John McGillis who got kicked out of Rae’s trailer. McGillis said that Flores was also staying there when the burglary and theft occurred.

Rae himself decided not to testify.

Closing arguments in the case will be Friday morning. Then, the jury will begin deliberations.

Testimony and evidence were presented Wednesday in the case of a Juneau man accused of using a stolen vehicle to smash open the front of a local brewery and steal beer.

Michael Rae, 54, is accused of theft, burglary, criminal mischief, and vehicle theft in connection with the April 29th incident at Alaskan Brewing Company.

Before the ten-woman, four-man jury was brought in Wednesday, the trial got off to a rocky start with Rae again speaking out of turn and challenging the judge.

“Remove yourself from the bench, please,” said Rae. “You’re biased and prejudiced, sir.”

Recently-installed Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez warned Rae that further outbursts would not be tolerated. Menendez referenced an earlier Alaska case in which a defiant and disruptive defendant was removed from the courtroom during his own trial.

“If you don’t proceed in a polite fashion, (then) you’ll be have to be removed from the courtroom,” Menendez warned.

Later during opening arguments, District Attorney Dave Brower said prosecutors had the person responsible for the brewery smash-and-grab.

“The evidence that is going to be shown to you today is going to show that Mr. Rae drove the Breeze-In vehicle into the Alaska Brewery, and took beer out of it, and drove it to trailer number 46, and then left back again,” Brower said.

Appointed defense attorney Kevin Higgins said the prosecution’s evidence linking Rae to the crime was weak and hinged on a single witness who was not credible.

”When you consider the major links in this case between the fact that a crime was committed and Mr. Rae, what you’re going to be left with is the testimony of one man,” suggested Higgins.

Brewery employees testified to a Breeze-In box- or cube-van in the area in the early morning hours of April 29th and damage to the front of the gift shop and tasting room when they arrived at work. A bumper from the stolen truck was recovered from in front of the brewery.

One Lemon Creek Breeze-In employee testified that she spotted the truck parked near Gruening Park later that morning and had asked if another employee had borrowed it for personal use overnight. No one could identify the driver of the van, or the person who rammed it into the brewery.

Most of the testimony from the two local businesses centered on setting the value of the theft and damages, which is important for severity of the charges. Two small five-gallon kegs, several six-packs, and a case of beer, totaling just over $500, were reported stolen from the gift shop and tasting room. Repairs to the damaged brewery building came to about $4,500. Repairs to the truck cost $8,960.

The only testimony so far allegedly linking Rae to the crime came from John McGillis, who was sleeping in his van in front of Switzer Village trailer number 46. It was his birthday on April 29th and he’d been kicked out of the trailer by Rae the night before. He reported someone who appeared to be Rae driving up to the trailer early in the morning, getting out of the Breeze-In truck, and hurriedly unloading several kegs before driving off. McGillis believed that Rae returned shortly on foot.

“You were fairly angry that (Rae) kicked you out?” Higgins asked. “I wasn’t pleased,” answered McGillis.

After the jury was excused for the day, a mini-evidentiary hearing was held for Judge Menendez to consider pictures of beer bottles and broken glass taken outside of the Switzer Village trailer during Rae’s arrest. The pictures showed several varieties of beer produced by Alaskan Brewing Company. Officers had applied for a search warrant for inside the trailer, but evidence obtained from serving the warrant has been suppressed since there was no record of the warrant application hearing. Wednesday’s evidentiary hearing included Judge Menendez questioning Detective Krag Campbell on the witness stand.

“Are you saying that if you didn’t have a search warrant and you had gone to dwelling at number 46, it’d been your intention to arrest Mr. Rae?” asked Menendez.

“Yes,” answered Detective Campbell, who referred to the visible beer bottles, McGillis’ statements, and still-to-be introduced footage from Walmart security cameras.

Judge Menendez must make the final call whether the pictures taken outside the trailer reflect items seen in “plain view” and are appropriate evidence to be shown to the jury.

The trial resumes Thursday morning. Closing arguments and jury deliberations are expected to get underway later Thursday.

Testimony presented at a brisk pace on Wednesday morning in the case of a Juneau man accused of using a stolen vehicle to smash open the front of a local brewery and steal beer.

Michael Rae, 54, is accused of theft, burglary, criminal mischief, and vehicle theft in connection with the April 29th incident at Alaskan Brewing Company.

Brewery employees testified to a Breeze-In box van or cube truck in the area and damage to the front of the gift shop when they arrived at work. A bumper from the truck was recovered from in front of the brewery.

A Breeze-In employee testified that she spotted the truck parked near Gruening Park later that morning and had asked if another employee had borrowed it for personal use overnight.

Two small kegs, a case, and several six-packs of beer reported stolen from the gift shop. Damage to the store front was estimated at about $4,500.

The Juneau Police Department website has become a model for other departments across the country. And one of its most popular programs has just expanded.

You can now search Ask A Dispatcher by keyword and may be able to get an instant answer. Lieutenant Kris Sell says many of the questions coming in are on similar themes.

“We’re finding that as people are spending more time on the Internet getting something right now is very important. So this allows people to do that on our website,” says Sell. “But if they have a unique situation and prior questions on a similar topic don’t answer their question, then they can write to us and usually within a couple of days we can get an answer back to us.”

Seven key words are now identified on the site, ranging from driving, which has been addressed about 70 times, to fireworks, a popular question around Independence Day and New Year’s.

Ask a Dispatcher started in September 2009. Since then it’s been recognized as cutting edge by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

You can also leave anonymous tips on the JPD website, through the Crime Line link.

“As soon as someone hits send it goes out to several supervisors within the department and we see that right away,” Sell says.

Another feature allows Juneau residents to find out what types of crime are happening in their part of town. Click on Crime Reports and you’ll find a Juneau map.

“Lots of people have expressed an interest in knowing what’s going on in their neighborhoods,” says Sell. “And we have that right at their fingertips where you can go in and see everything that’s going on.”

Sell says department research shows Juneau uses a lot of bandwidth and the theory is to treat everybody like the press. She calls it a by-product of having a “techy” chief. JPD Chief Greg Browning and Sell have made presentations on the JPD website; it has been pointed out at other police administration conferences as a model.