Crime & Courts

 

Former Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice and retired federal appeals judge Robert Boochever has died in Southern California.

A spokesman for the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Boochever died in his Pasadena home Sunday of natural causes at the age of 94.

Boochever was born in New York, graduated from Cornell University in 1939, and obtained his law degree from Cornell University Law School in 1941. His resume lists being honorably discharged at the rank of Captain from the U.S. Army in 1945. He almost immediately began working as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Juneau, and then entered into private practice in the firm of Faulker, Banfield, Boochever & Doogan for 25 years before being installed as associate justice on the Alaska Supreme Court in 1972.

Boochever’s community activities while in Juneau included as chairman, president, or director of various community and civic groups ranging from the Juneau Chamber of Commerce, Juneau Planning Commission, Alaska and Juneau Bar Associations, Alaska Judicial Council, Territory of Alaska Development Board, two local banks, Boy Scout Council, Salvation Army, Red Cross, and St. Ann’s Hospital Board.

Boochever had actually applied to be one of the first justices of the fledgling Alaska Supreme Court in 1959. But he wasn’t named to the bench until picked by Governor Bill Egan in December 1971. Boochever served on the Alaska Supreme Court — including a stint as chief justice — until President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the San Francisco-based federal appeals court in 1980.

Boochever semi-retired in 1986 and began hearing a reduced case load. He did not hear any cases in recent years.

Boochever’s wife died in 1999. He is survived by four children and 11 grandchildren, including Olympic silver-medalist skier Hilary Lindh.

Alaska Supreme Court Justice Craig Stowers talks with KTOO about his experience working as a law clerk for Judge Robert Boochever

No one was reported hurt and no explosives were found after a threatening note was found on a postal box at the entrance to the Forest Edge condominums, near Lawson Creek on Douglas Island.

Juneau Police Sargeant Scott Erickson says a condo resident discovered the note on the postal box drop slot when they got home Monday afternoon. Erickson says the note will be processed as evidence.

Prior to opening the box, Erickson says it was also x-rayed to determine if there was anything was inside.

Douglas Highway was briefly closed to traffic as the Juneau Police Department’s fully-suited Explosive Ordnance Technician accessed the postal box. The condomonium complex driveway — Forest Edge Access Road — remained closed during the entire incident.

Firefighters were also dispatched to the scene as a precaution.

Erickson says they were called out before four o’clock Monday afternoon and the all-clear was issued shortly after 6:30 p.m.

The trial of a Hoonah man accused of shooting and killing two police officers has been officially moved until the end of January.

The judge in the case earlier wanted another opinion on whether John Marvin, Jr. is competent to stand trial, and he had already signaled his intention to postpone trial in case. It was previously scheduled to start next Monday, October 17.

After a hearing last month, Sitka Superior Court Judge David George said he wanted an additional opinion on Marvin’s competency. But his selected psychologist won’t be able to do an evaluation until later this month at the earliest.

A new competency hearing has been set for January 6, just a few weeks before the start of trial on January 30, 2012.

Marvin, now 46-years old, is being charged with murder and weapons misconduct in connection with the shooting of Hoonah officers Tony Wallace and Matt Tokuoka. The incident on August 28th of last year allegedly included Marvin holding officers at bay and refusing to surrender until a day after the shooting.

A newly-seated judge – who successfully defended a Yakutat lodge operator from murder charges years ago – will preside over a separate case of another alleged homicide at a nearby lodge that very same year.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez has been the assigned the case of Robert D. Kowalski, who is now in a Montana prison awaiting extradition to Alaska.

Kowalski was never charged in the death of Sandra M. Perry at Yakutat’s Glacier Bear Lodge in July of 1996. Prosecutors say they did not have enough evidence then to counter Kowalski’s claims that it was an accidental shooting.

After Kowalski was convicted of killing another woman in Montana in 2008, Alaska cold case investigators took another look at the Yakutat incident. A Juneau grand jury last Friday returned with a bill of indictment charging Kowalski with first and second degree murder in connection with Perry’s death.

Court documents indicate that Paul Miovas, an attorney from the Office of Special Prosecutions who’s assigned to cold cases, will prosecute the case. No attorney has been named for Kowalski’s defense yet. A $1,000,000 warrant was issued for Kowalski until extradition proceedings formally get underway.

Louis Menendez just started working on the bench in September. While he worked as a defense attorney, one of Menendez’s clients was Donald Richmond, operator of the Harlequin Lodge in Yakutat. Richmond was accused of murdering his cook Rick Watson in December of 1996. Archived news reports indicate a Juneau jury hung during the first trial in 1997 and Richmond was acquitted during a retrial.

Walter Carpeneti, now the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court who administered the judicial oath to Menendez last month, presided over both of the Richmond trials.

The Harlequin Lodge was renamed the Bayview Lodge after the shooting.

An Arkansas judge is considering motions to hold separate trials for three Arkansas teenagers charged with second degree murder and violent group activity in connection with the death of Kevin Thornton, of Juneau.

In motions filed in Hot Spring County Circuit Court Wednesday, the teens’ attorneys say a joint trial would violate their rights of due process and a fair trial.

Richard Shelby Whybark and Timothy Tyler Norwood, 17, and 16-year-old Clinton Lavon Ross – all of Malvern, Arkansas — have been charged in a single case in adult criminal court.

If they are tried together, according to the motions, one would be forced to testify against the other.

The court also has been asked to order a mental examination for Ross, the youngest of the trio. A motion was filed yesterday (Wednesday) stating an evaluation is necessary to determine if Ross has the capacity to “appreciate the criminality of his conduct at the time of the alleged offense.”

In charging documents filed with the court, the boys told Hot Spring County Sheriff’s investigators they had been drinking beer at a nearby river then drove along Traskwood Road where they saw Thornton walking with 20-year-old Jerry Haines of Malvern.

The charges indicate that Ross got out of the truck, took a swing at Haines then chased him, but stopped.

Norwood is alleged to have hit Thornton on the side of his face. He fell to the ground and appeared to be having a seizure. Whybark is alleged to have kicked and hit Thornton, then drag him into the ditch.

The charging documents indicate that each teen waived his rights with a parent present and provided signed statements about the incident to investigators.

Late last week, defense attorneys filed motions to suppress those statements. They also petitioned the court to dismiss the case or transfer it to juvenile court.
Those motions were heard by Judge Phillip Shirron on Monday. He has not yet ruled. No date has been set to hear the motion to separate the case and try each teen individually.

Thornton was allegedly beaten on July 20th while he and Haines were walking along Traskwood Road. The 19-year-old Thornton died of his injuries on July 27th. Sheriff’s investigators have called it “completely random violence.” Thornton, a 2010 graduate of Thunder Mountain High School, had been visiting friends in Arkansas.

Sentencing is planned for December 8th for the Juneau man who attempted to rob a bank and then promptly gave up.

66-year old Kenneth Montoya pled guilty on Wednesday to a single count of robbery in the second degree. He was originally charged with theft and robbery in the first degree.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg carefully and methodically explained to Montoya the rights he’d be giving up by changing his plea.

Defense attorney David Seid says his client is legally competent, but he intends to explain at the sentencing hearing how “mental health issues influenced his conduct.”

Montoya was arrested minutes after he allegedly used a toy or fake gun to rob a teller at First National Bank on Front Street minutes after it opened for business on May 31st. He allegedly asked bank employees to call police during the robbery.

During a court hearing following his arrest, Montoya repeatedly maintained that he did not need or want a lawyer.

The maximum sentence for robbery is ten-years in prison with a $100,000 fine. But Montoya will likely be ordered to served one- to three-years in prison and will spend fifteen-years on probation.