A jury trial is scheduled for February 28th for each of a Juneau guide’s two brothers accused of hunting and fishing violations.
Jason W. Duby, 36, of Clelum, Washington faces charges of bear baiting without a permit, hunting in a closed area, and taking a black bear without an appropriate permit. Joel M. Duby, 27, of Richland, Washington faces charges of guiding without a valid sport fish license and engaging in sport fish guiding without a guide license available for inspection.
They’re both brothers of Michael Patrick Duby, 37, owner and operator of FishHunter Charters in Juneau.
His father, Michael W. Duby, 61, has already been charged with providing guide services without a license, allegedly for a sport fishing trip in April 2008 while taking out the ‘Brody’, one of his son’s boats. He was arraigned last Thursday and his trial also starts on February 28th.
Blake B. Coombs, 27, of Kennewick, Washington is being charged with negligently establishing a black bear bait station behind the younger Duby’s house and overfishing of halibut. Coombs was a deckhand on Duby’s boat when the alleged falsification of halibut records occurred in June 2009. Electronic court records indicate he didn’t appear or participate in an arraignment hearing on December 8th.
Benjamin Olson, 24, of Juneau is being charged with illegally taking a beaver while out on hunting trip with the younger Duby on Admiralty Island, and illegally possessing and transporting the beaver. His trial is secheduled to start the end of January.
A Hawaiian man, Bradley Deffenbaugh, 51, has also been charged with falsifying a sealing certificate for a black bear taken while out hunting on the Juneau road system with Michael Patrick Duby. Deffenbaugh’s trial starts on February 28th, the same day as the trials for the Duby brothers.
Michael Patrick Duby has not been charged with any recent infractions or crimes under state law. He’s currently awaiting sentencing in January on a federal charge related to selling migratory bird parts over the internet.
(Editor note: Joel Duby’s hometown corrected to Richland.)
Three Arkansas teenagers, charged with the murder of Kevin Thornton, of Juneau, will undergo psychiatric evaluations to determine if they are competent to stand trial.
During a hearing Monday in Hot Spring County District Court, Judge Phillip H. Shirron ordered the mental examinations for Richard Shelby Whybark and Timothy Tyler Norwood, both age 17, and 16-year-old Clinton Lavon Ross.
The teens were charged in August with second degree murder and violent group activity in a single case in adult court. They’re accused of beating Kevin Thornton when he was walking with a friend down a Malvern-area road on July 20th. He died seven days later.
Steve Good is a reporter for the Malvern Daily Record. He was in the courtroom Monday when Hot Spring County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Richard Garrett told the court that “this person was simply walking down the road in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Monday’s hearing was originally scheduled to address motions to dismiss or transfer the case to juvenile court, and separate it, so each defendant can be tried individually.
Good says those motions will now be taken up after the mental evaluations are complete, no later than 60 days.
“The judge stated it was his intention to maintain this trial on a fast track and not let it get bogged down,” Good says.
Judge Phillip Shirron did not grant a motion to suppress certain testimony, particularly a statement that one of the defendants laughed during a police interview when he learned that Thornton had died from his injuries.
Good says Shirron also quickly shot down the notion that the case should have been filed in juvenile court. The defense attorneys’ motion called it unconstitutional to file in adult court.
“Their contention was it should have gone to juvenile court first and the hearing held in juvenile court then transferred to adult court,” Good says.
Arkansas law outlines 10 criteria for trying juveniles as adults.
“It has to do with the severity of the crime, the aggressiveness of the crime,” Good says. “The prosecutor stated in his argument they met eight of the ten criteria and that’s why they decided to file it directly.”
Good says Whybark, Ross, and Norwood sat together at Monday’s hearing. They spoke with each other and their lawyers. They were not allowed to have any contact with family members.
The judge also conducted a bond hearing for Whybark, who has been held at Jefferson County Juvenile Justice Complex since August. Good says Judge Shirron set a $40,000 dollar professional cash bond.
“He also set a $15,000 bond as an alternative with the condition that Whybark be monitored electronically,” Good says. “Whybark has no prior juvenile criminal history, according to court testimony that was presented today (Monday).”
Whybark could be released to his family, but confined to his residence. He would not be allowed to have any contact with the other defendants.
“The judge made a condition that he would continue his education and left it open to them with what they could arrange,” Good says. “But he expects him to be being educated during this time.”
He says Whybark has been working on his GED while in custody.
Ross and Norwood have been detained since by the Arkansas Department of Youth Services. If requested by their attorneys, the judge indicated the court could extend bond hearings to the boys once they are released from youth services, sometime next year.
Kenin Thornton was 19 when he died. He was a 2010 graduate of Thunder Mountain High School. His parents, Bill and Darlene Thornton, of Juneau, attended Monday’s hearing in Malvern. Good says they declined to address the court. He says the Thornton’s are to meet with prosecutors before they leave Malvern on Wednesday.
Attorneys for three Arkansas teenagers accused of killing a Juneau man will argue motions Monday to dismiss the case or transfer it to juvenile court, and try each boy individually.
Seventeen-year-old Richard Shelby Whybark and Timothy Tyler Norwood, and 16-year-old Clinton Lavon Ross are charged with second degree murder in connection with the death of Kevin Thornton, of Juneau. The teens also face an aggravating charge of violent group activity.
The Malvern, Arkansas boys have been charged in a single case in adult criminal court. Earlier this fall their attorneys filed the motions to separate the trials, saying a joint trial would violate their rights of due process and fair trial. They also moved to dismiss the case, or at least transfer the youth to juvenile court.
Monday’s arguments will be heard by Hot Spring District Court Judge Phillip Shirron, who recently announced his retirement at the end of the month, so the case will soon be moved to another judge.
Thornton was allegedly beaten on July 20th while he and another man were walking along a Malvern-area road. The 19-year-old Thornton died of his injuries on July 27th. Hot Spring County sheriff’s investigators have called it completely random violence. Thornton, a 2010 graduate of Thunder Mountain High School, had been visiting friends in Arkansas.
The hearing into a Coast Guard pilot’s alleged negligence is over. The Article 32 proceeding essentially wrapped up Friday afternoon in Juneau after the last round of testimony by witnesses. Lt. Lance Leone is the only survivor of last year’s fatal Coast Guard helicopter crash off the coast of Washington State. In addition to the previous accusations of negligence and dereliction of duty, Leone is also being investigated for another dereliction count because he allegedly failed to adequately question the pilot of the flight. The aircraft, known as CG-6017, was a helicopter being transported to its new station in Sitka.
“When the natives had pulled him out, they said ‘Those stupid wires!'”
That’s how Ellen Leone describes the first words that her husband Lance heard when he was rescued by Quillayute tribemembers in a skiff in July of last year, moments after his H-60 helicopter ran into a set of the power lines and crashed. Leone said her husband didn’t know that they had struck the wires. His helicopter crashed and he didn’t know why.
Those wires to James Island were actually owned and operated by the Coast Guard to power nearby marine aids-to-navigation.
CG-6017 as the newer MH-60T model. As the pilot-in-command, Lt. Sean Krueger would sit on the right side of the cockpit and the co-pilot Lt. Lance Leone would sit on the left. Aviation Maintenence Technicians Adam Hoke and Brett Banks would sit in the mid-section of the aircraft. Photo copyright by Jeff Solberg.
Leone was the co-pilot while the pilot at the controls was Lieutenant Sean Krueger. He was killed in the crash along with Aviation Maintenance Technicians Adam Hoke and Brett Banks.
During the conclusion of Friday’s hearing, Master Chief William Johnson, commander of the Quillayute Boat Station near La Push before he retired, testified that he inquired higher up at least a year before the crash about the maintenance of the lines and poor condition of warning balls. He never got a response. Robert Van Haastert, a Federal Aviation Administration obstruction evaluation supervisor, said that he would’ve recommended better warning measures had he been called to evaluate the site. At least three other H-60 pilots that Leone served with in Sitka and Elizabeth City, North Carolina vouched to his skills and professionalism.
Attorneys in the case did not comment outside of the courtroom, but Leone’s civilian defense attorney John M. Smith said during the hearing’s closing arguments that the power lines were implicated in at least two other accidents. “The U.S. Coast Guard set a trap that was spring-loaded and that had already worked twice before,” said Smith.
Coast Guard Lieutenant Stanley Fields, Government counsel in the case, said Leone showed no reasonable duty of care as navigator and co-pilot of that flight.
Ellen Leone disputes that.
“I’m very proud of my husband and the career he has had in the Coast Guard,” said Leone.
“He’s done a great job doing his duty and, unfortunately, this was a tragic accident that occurred that nobody could’ve forseen.” Leone hopes that the U.S. Government will see their mistake after the hearing.
Pat Coyle believes Leone certainly would’ve called out the wires if he had seen them, especially if he thought his own life was in danger. Coyle also had a dim view of the evidence brought up by the Government.
“No matter what neglience, I don’t think the crime fits the punishment,” said Coyle, a commercial medical airlift pilot. While based in Sitka last year, he befriended a young Coast Guard aviator, a fellow rotorhead. At first, he didn’t know that he was the sole survivor of CG-6017.
“I just know that it’s got to jolt your confidence when something like that happens to you.”
So Coyle took up him for a spin in his Super Cub on floats.
“As a matter of fact, the next flight I let him sit in the front seat of the airplane,” said Coyle. “He did a pretty good job.”
There are two children in the Leone family, and Ellen says she’s due with another boy in April. She’s thankful for the support that they’ve received from around the country. It’s included Juneau-based Coast Guardsmen and women who took leave to attend the hearing, still dressed in winter dress or tropical blues, rank insignia and nameplates clearly visible. They declined to go on tape or have their names used, but they said they knew Leone or served with him at previous billets.
One person in particular was a civilian who had traveled all the way from Florida.
“I am here to support Lance and their family, and to let them know there are many, many people out there who support them,” said Kyla Krueger, mother of three children and wife of Lieutenant Sean Krueger, the pilot in command during that fateful flight.
“Somehow, good will come from this situation.”
Krueger also said this was a chance to hear everything first-hand, since the Coast Guard didn’t really tell her much about the crash.
“I am still just trying to process what I learned though the media prior to now, and what I’m learning as what they’re claiming to be fact and what they’re claiming to be opinion,” said Krueger.
Her husband used to wear his wedding band on a chain around his neck. She now wears it after adding her own band and engagement ring – her hand going up to touch it when she talks about Sean; how they met while he was at the Academy or about how he was picked for a pilot exchange with the Royal Navy.
There has been much speculation — but no real definitive explanation offered — that one reason that Leone was not charged with Krueger’s death is because Krueger was just as responsible. He was at the controls and some of the testimony centered on his low overflight of a Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboat in tribute moments before the crash. There was also an accusation by prosecutors that he was flying too low to begin with, even though cruising at 250-feet off the deck is considered standard practice in Alaska’s poor weather. Kyla Krueger says some of that was not easy to hear at first, but…
“I trust in that my husband did his job to the best of his ability everyday,” said Krueger. “In this particular case, he was still doing his job and he was doing something he loved to do until they hit that wire.”
Ellen Leone is also confident that her husband did his job well. But she suspects that the whole proceeding will have a chilling effect on other service members. She thinks that her husband is being prosecuted because he was the sole survivor in the last of a series of accidents in the previous year – some of them fatal – suffered by Coast Guard H-60’s, H-65’s, and a C-130 aircraft.
“It doesn’t bode well to other pilots in the Coast Guard to say ‘If you survive an accident, no matter what you did or didn’t do, (then) watch out!’ because they might come after you,” said Leone.
Captain Andrew Norris, the investigating officer during the hearing, said he’ll consider an additional charge of dereliction of duty against Leone. Norris was already investigating Leone for one count of dereliction for failing to navigate the helicopter to avoid hazards. Leone is also charged with destruction of government property, and negligently causing the deaths of Hoke and Banks.
The new dereliction charge is for not following proper Crew Resource Management procedures. It follows testimony Thursday from Leone’s commanding officer, Air Station Sitka Commander Doug Cameron, who suggested Leone may have been reluctant to question Krueger as the helicopter’s pilot-in-command. Cameron speculated that Leone deferred to Krueger, because of rank and experience.
It’s impossible to predict what the investigating officer’s recommendations will be and whether Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo, the convening authority in the case, will call for a court martial, discipline Leone administratively, or just drop the charges. That could be several months away.
But the far future? Flying friend Pat Coyle doesn’t need a crystal ball or tea leaves. That’s much easier to figure out.
“His flying career is by no means over,” said Coyle. “This is a bump in the road.”
Captain Norris was expected to accept a piece of written testimony and any other further briefings on Monday before drafting his recommendations for Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo.
The hearing into a Coast Guard pilot’s alleged negligence is over. The Article 32 proceeding wrapped up Friday afternoon in Juneau after the last round of witnesses. Lieutenant Lance Leone is the only survivor of last year’s fatal Coast Guard helicopter crash off the coast of Washington State.
Friday morning, some of the pilots that Leone flew with testified to his skills and professionalism.
A Federal Aviation Administration official testified that he would’ve likely recommended better warning measures for a set of power lines near La Push, Washington had he been called in to evaluate the site. Leone’s H-60T flew into the lines and crashed.
The pilot at the controls of the H-60T was Lieutenant Sean Krueger. He was killed in the crash along with Aviation Maintenance Technicians Adam Hoke and Brett Banks.
Government counsel or Coast Guard lawyers serving as prosecutors said that Leone showed no reasonable duty of care as navigator and co-pilot of that flight. Leone’s civilian defense council said the “U.S. Coast Guard set a trap that was spring-loaded and that had already worked twice before.” The power lines were owned and operated by the Coast Guard and they were already considered as factors in at least two other accidents.
Ellen Leone believes her husband is being prosecuted simply because the La Push crash was the last in a string of accidents suffered by the Coast Guard. In the end, she suspects it will backfire on the service.
“It doesn’t bode well for other pilots in the Coast Guard to say that ‘If you survive an accident, no matter what did or didn’t do, (then) watch out.’ Because they might come after you.”
Pat Coyle is a medical airlift pilot now based in Juneau. While in Sitka, he befriended a young Coast Guard aviator – not realizing at first that he was the sole survivor of CG 6017. Coyle says he hopes Leone returns to the cockpit soon.
“I don’t think the crime fits the punishment,” said Coyle. “No matter what negligence you point at the guy.”
Coyle was among the friends and colleagues who attended the three-day hearing.
Many Coast Guardsmen and women who knew Leone from his previous posting in North Carolina took leave to attend the hearing in uniform, but they declined to comment on tape.
Another observer traveled all the way from Florida. Kyla Krueger was the wife of Lieutenant Sean Krueger. She came to provide moral support for Leone and his family. She also wanted answers.
“The Coast Guard did not afford me the opportunity to hear any of this going into this situation with the Article 32 hearing,” said Krueger who was reluctant to rely on second-hand information or reports from the media. “The vast majority of the information I’m hearing for the first time in a factual manner.”
Captain Andrew Norris, who lead the Article 32 hearing, says he’ll consider an additional specification of dereliction of duty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice against Leone. Norris was already investigating Leone for one count of dereliction for failing to navigate the helicopter to avoid hazards. Leone is also charged with destruction of government property, and negligently causing the deaths of Hoke and Banks.
The new dereliction charge is for not following proper Crew Resource Management procedures. It follows testimony Thursday from Leone’s commanding officer, Air Station Sitka Commander Doug Cameron, who suggested Leone may have been reluctant to question Krueger as the helicopter’s pilot-in-command. Cameron speculated that Leone deferred to Krueger, because of rank and experience.
The Article 32 hearing – similar to a grand jury proceeding in civilian court – began on Wednesday. Formal motions and one last piece of written testimony will be considered on Monday. Then Norris will make a recommendation to Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District in Alaska. Ostebo will decide whether to drop the charges, pursue discipline internally, or through a court martial.
The investigating officer for a hearing into last year’s fatal Coast Guard helicopter crash off the coast of Washington State says he’ll consider an additional charge of dereliction of duty against the crash’s sole survivor, Lieutenant Lance Leone.
Captain Andrew Norris is leading the Article 32 hearing, taking place this week in a courtroom at the Juneau Federal Building.
Norris was already investigating Leone for one count of dereliction for failing to navigate the helicopter to avoid hazards. Leone is also charged with destruction of government property, and negligently causing the deaths of two of his crewmates.
The new dereliction charge is for not following proper Crew Resource Management procedures. It follows testimony yesterday (Thursday) from Leone’s commanding officer, Air Station Sitka Commander Doug Cameron, who suggested Leone may have been reluctant to question the helicopter’s pilot-in-command, Lieutenant Sean Krueger. Cameron speculated that Leone deferred to Krueger, because of rank and experience.
Krueger died in the crash, but Leone is only being charged in the deaths of Aviation Maintenance Technicians Adam Hoke and Brett Banks.
The Article 32 hearing – similar to a grand jury proceeding in civilian court – began on Wednesday and is expected to wrap up today (Friday).
Norris will then make a recommendation to Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District in Alaska. Ostebo will decide whether to drop the charges, pursue discipline internally, or through a court martial.
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