Public Safety

Capital City Fire and Rescue officials say they have solved the mystery of some of the arsons committed in Juneau. They believe that a seven-year old boy started at least five of the fires in the downtown area. They include fires at a commercial structure, and an elementary school and an outdoor grass area that the boy, his name not being released, allegedly admitted starting over the last four months. The boy was apparently was tracked down by use of video surveillance at a recent fire.

Total damage was estimated at $1000.

The arsons were solved by the Juneau Fire & Arson Joint Task Force which includes CCF&R Fire Marshals and Detectives from the Juneau Police Department.

We’ll continue to update this story as it develops.

Another witness was called to testify yesterday about their opinion of the character or reputation of a Juneau man shot last December in the valley. This was to establish the state of mind of Kenneth Nalan who allegedly pulled the trigger, wounding John Duran.

Nalan’s brother-in law John Day admitted that he was so drunk that he remembered little of the night of the shooting at the home on Glacierwood Drive.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” said Day. “I’ve tried to piece it together, but I can’t remember anything.”

With the jury later absent from the courtroom, Day described various instances which Duran apparently boasted or told of an alleged robbery attempt, an assault, and even a supposed homicide. It could establish what Nalan may have been thinking or feeling later that night about having a much bigger and intimidating person in his bedroom if it was repeated in front of Nalan on the night of December 20, 2011. But Day, also friends with Duran, seem to change his story later on the stand and said he couldn’t really remember when the jury and Duran were both back in the courtroom.

Shooting victim and prosecution witness John Duran also testified, detailing how they talked, drank a little beer, smoked weed, and went to Nalan’s bedroom to listen to music and play guitar on that night. But he couldn’t remember how he got shot or much of anything afterward.

“I remember waking up asking Ken Nalan about how this happened,” said Duran. “And he said I threatened him, and I called him a liar.”

Duran says the bullet from the fired .357-magnum entered beneath his left eye, went under his nose and exited underneath his right eye. Duran says he has a metal plate essentially as an upper right cheekbone that always hurts. He says he has little feeling on the skin there.

Duran denied most of the stories repeated about him, his supposed nine years experience in the martial arts and frequent slap-sparring, and involvement in the alleged homicide.

Proceedings got off to rocky start yesterday morning. One of the fourteen jurors was eventually excused after writing a note to the judge. She reported that another potential juror, very early in the juror selection process, commented that he thought Nalan was a “hothead.” He was not selected for the jury, but the note-writing female juror said she remembered the offhand remark after Day’s fiance testified Wednesday about Duran’s character. It’s unclear if anyone else in the jury pool heard the judgmental remark. After a prolonged inquiry by Nalan’s attorney – including a session that was closed to the media and the public – the female juror was gone and the jury was down to thirteen.

Testimony is expected to continue through Friday.

A Juneau couple charged with theft after leaving their jobs as managers of the Airport Mini-Mall and Apartments was sentenced in Juneau Superior Court on Thursday.

Two-years in prison with two-years suspended (or no time to serve) was handed down to Cheryl Hansen, 67, and Paul Hansen, 63. The sentence was part of an earlier plea agreement with prosecutors. The Hansens changed their pleas to guilty to reduced charges of second degree felony theft in February.

The couple started work as managers of the Airport Mini-Mall and Apartments in 2001. Cheryl did the bookkeeping and Paul did the maintenance in exchange for a $1000 monthly stipend and use of a two bedroom house with paid utilities. Prosecutors have said that owners of the Mall discovered at least $68,870 in rent deposits were missing after the Hansens left their employment in June 2010.

Assistant District Attorney Angie Kemp says it was a serious offense, but the plea and sentence agreement was specifically crafted so that the Hansens would not be incarcerated.

“It was an elaborate scheme as far as the state can tell,” said Kemp.

That’s not true, according to Public Defender Grace Lee. She said Paul Hansen’s poor health led to deterioriating work product.

“I don’t think that they are mastermind thieves who sat there and planned out a way to take money from AMMA for nine-plus years,” said Lee.

Lee said approximately $13,000 in rent checks has already been found stashed in a box of Christmas decorations placed in storage. It’s unclear if any of those checks are “viable” or can be deposited.

Phil Isaak, son of mall co-owner Richard Isaak, read a letter on behalf of the other co-owner Dick Winchell which outlined years of delays for deposits and excuses.

“The approximate amount of $70,000 for the months of May and June (2010) probably represent only the tip of the iceberg,” said Isaak.

The Hansens reportedly acknowledged to police officers that the deposits had not been made. They claimed they had the funds, but a search by officers of the Hansen’s belongings could not locate the money.

Both Cheryl and Paul Hansen read in court separate letters of apology intended for owners of the mall. They both suggested that deterioriating mental and physical health issues led to the misplacement of all those deposits.

“Sometimes I didn’t remember taking the rent or to do the paperwork to show that had taken it,” said Paul Hansen. “But I am sure that we did not take whatever money is missing.”

Cheryl Hansen acknowledged misplaced checks or bankbags containing thousands dollars of cash left elsewhere in the house or mixed in with personal belongings. She also said she was lenient with largely low-income tenants who could not pay rent on-time because of a hardship.

“There were times that rents were held before depositing,” said Cheryl Hansen.

Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez saw it as predicament that snowballed out of control over a long period of time.

A restitution hearing is planned for July. The Hansens may be required to pay back some of the money as part of their three-year probation. But they’re currently on a fixed income.

When Phil and Richard Isaak left the courthouse Thursday, they stopped to tell each of the Hansens that they accepted their apology and forgave them.

A November 5th trial date scheduled for a Montana inmate accused of murdering a woman in Yakutat over fifteen years ago.

Robert Dean Kowalski, 50, is accused of causing the death of Sandra M. Perry, 39, at Yakutat’s Glacier Bear Lodge in July, 1996.

Special prosecutor Paul Miovas expects a jury trial to last three weeks. He says it actually will be litigation of two homicides including one from another jurisidiction.

Public defender Eric Hedland has not had the opportunity to review the voluminus amounts of evidence now coming in during the discovery process. With his involvement in other high-profile or complicated cases, Hedland doesn’t believe the previously scheduled trial date of May 29th is still possible.

Kowalski appeared in the Juneau Superior Court on Thursday. He’s already serving a sentence for the death of a Montana woman in 2008.

Based on Kowalski’s incarceration and Hedland’s case load, they waived the 120-day speedy trial rule.

Kowalski is being charged with first and second degree murder. Troopers say that a man staying at the lodge near Kowalski and Perry’s room reported hearing an argument, then a gunshot, followed by silence. Kowalski told Troopers that he armed himself with a shotgun after he and Perry heard a bear outside their room. But Kowalski said he tripped onto the bed and fell on top of Perry and the gun discharged when he got up.

Kowalski was never charged for Perry’s death. The prosecutor assigned to the case apparently determined that there was not enough evidence then to disprove Kowalski’s claim of an accidental shooting.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Unit reviewed the Yakutat incident after Kowalski was convicted in Montana of killing 45-year-old Lorraine Kay Morin in March of 2008. The Kalispell Daily Inter Lake newspaper in Montana reported that the incident included the arrest of Kowalski after a 31-hour standoff at his home that involved SWAT teams from three jurisdictions. The gun used in the shooting was recovered from his home. Kowalski told investigators the gun accidentally went off as he was falling backward into a chair.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez, who successfully defended a client accused of another shooting at another Yakutat lodge that very same year, will preside over the Kowalski trial.

Testimony slowed Wednesday during a trial of a Juneau man charged with assault in connection with a shooting in the valley.

Attorneys argued outside of earshot of the jury whether a witness’ opinion about the character and reputation of both the shooter and victim could be brought up.

The shooting incident happened at Kenneth Nalan’s home on Glacierwood Drive on December 20th. John Duran was injured when the bullet passed through his face.

Nadine Peratrovich was in the Nalan home and made the 911 call seconds after the gun was fired. Defense attorney Eric Hedland asked her on cross-examination about what she thought about Duran.

“He’s violent, definitely a violent person,” said Peratrovich. “He’s an aggressor.”

Peratrovich was actually the prosecution’s witness. But successful arguments by Hedland to get her to voice her opinions on the stand eventually prompted District Attorney Dave Brower to try impeaching his own witness. He wanted to bring up Peratrovich’s earlier conviction for giving false information to an officer. Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez did not allow it.

Hedland played the entire tape of the nearly seven-minute 911 call that continued until the first officers arrived. A calm, cool, and collected dispatcher provides first aid advice while asking Peratrovich about the location of the injured and the gun. But it’s this small portion of the 911 call that Hedland thinks is important.

“Kind of self defense type of thing, it sounds like,” said Peratrovich to the 911 dispatcher during the call. “They’re all friends. It wasn’t a hostile type of thing. They were just drinking.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a veteran officer said it’s possible that some of the evidence may have been lost during police officers initial response to the scene.

Sargeant Paul Hatch, an officer with twenty years experience who was assigned last year to head up the Juneau Police Department’s investigations unit, admitted that clearing a residence or making sure that it is secure usually entails checking all the rooms. It’s not just one room. Patrolmen who were first on the scene at Nalan’s house following the shooting apparently only checked the master bedroom where the single shot was fired. Hatch was called to the scene roughly forty-minutes after the 911 call.

Under prolonged questioning by Nalan’s defense attorney Eric Hedland, Hatch also said that it’s possible that a rookie patrolman’s actions to take a revolver from the bedroom, unload it, and stick it in his waistband could’ve destroyed any evidence on the gun. That could’ve included fingerprints or blowback debris when the weapon was fired. Hedland also questioned why residue or any injuries on Nalan’s hands were not sampled or properly documented. And who tracked blood in the house with their footprints? Was it Nalan, Duran, or witness John Day, Peratrovich’s boyfriend who was also in the bedroom? Or was it the officer who secured the gun?

Hatch said they treated the house as a crime scene from the very start.

“Once the logistics of tending to the immediate people were taken care of, people were moved out, then yes, it was locked down and secured,” Hatch said.

Duran was severely injured when the bullet passed through his face and lodged in a bedroom wall. He’s expected to testify for the prosecution. Still unclear is who actually had control of the revolver and who fired it.

Nalan’s trial is expected to last through Friday in Juneau Superior Court. A six-man, eight-woman jury is hearing the case.

A veteran police officer said during trial on Wednesday that it’s possible some of the evidence may have been lost during police officers initial response to the scene of a shooting.

Kenneth Nalan is being charged with assault in connection with the incident that injured John Duran. The incident happened at Nalan’s home on Glacierwood Drive on December 20th.

Sargeant Paul Hatch, a twenty-year veteran who was assigned last year to head up the Juneau Police Department’s investigations unit, admitted that clearing a residence or making sure that it is secure usually entails checking all the rooms. It’s not just one room. Patrolmen who were first on the scene at Nalan’s house following the shooting apparently only checked the master bedroom where the single shot was fired.

Under prolonged questioning by Nalan’s defense attorney Eric Hedland on Wednesday morning, Hatch also said that it’s possible that a rookie patrolman’s actions to take a revolver from the bedroom, unload it, and stick it in his waistband could’ve destroyed any evidence on the gun. That could’ve included fingerprints or blowback debris when the weapon was fired. Hedland also questioned why residue or any injuries on Nalan’s hands were not sampled or properly documented.

Duran was severely injured when the bullet passed through his face and lodged in a bedroom wall. He’s expected to testify for the prosecution. Still unclear is who actually had control of the revolver and who fired it.

Nalan’s trial is expected to last through Friday in Juneau Superior Court. A six-man, eight-woman jury is hearing the case.