Public Safety

The state Department of Health and Social Services has identified the daycare provider shutdown Wednesday as a result of abuse allegations.

Department spokesman Clay Butcher says Colleen Tilley had her child care provider’s license suspended, pending an investigation. Juneau Police had said in a press released that Tilley’s license was revoked. But Butcher says that will only be the case if the abuse allegations are proved true.

“The childcare program office is going to do a complete investigation and based on that the license will either be revoked or unsuspended if there is nothing questionable deemed to have happened,” Butcher says.

He says the department’s investigation will coincide with JPD’s.

Police served a search warrant Wednesday at Tilley’s Switzer Village residence, which doubles as an in-home daycare service. On December 9th, two 4-year-old boys reported getting bruises while at the daycare.

Three other children in the home when officers arrived and were picked up by their parents prior to police leaving the residence.

Police Spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says two counts of misdemeanor assault have been forwarded to the CBJ Law Department. The investigation continues.

The U-S Senate voted overwhelmingly 95-3 to confirm Judge Morgan Christen to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today (Thursday).

Alaska’s Senators sung her praises on the Senate floor before the vote. Republican Lisa Murkowski noted the ground-breaking significance Christen’s seating on the court.

“This is really, Mr. President an historic nomination,” said Murkowski. “Only two Alaskans have had an opportunity to serve on the 9th Circuit. And both those judges were somewhat predictably men.”

Christen had been a justice on the Alaska Supreme Court since 2009. She was appointed by former Republican Governor Sarah Palin. Earlier in her career, Christen was appointed to the state Superior Court bench by Democratic Governor Tony Knowles.

Democratic Senator Mark Begich – who recommended Christen to President Obama – spoke of her volunteer work and philanthropy in Alaska.

“I’ve known Morgan for years and am continually impressed by her keen legal mind, her outstanding record of public service and her ability to carve plenty of time out of her schedule for extensive volunteer work,” Begich said.

The seat on the 9th Circuit has been vacant for 18 months since Judge Andrew Kleinfeld took senior status. The court has jurisdiction over much of the west, including Alaska, California, Washington and Montana. It’s headquartered in San Francisco and is the largest of the nation’s 13 courts of appeals.

Judicial confirmations have been happening slowly in the Senate because they’ve become political cannon fodder. A handful of Republicans have intentionally held up votes, even when the judges’ actual nominations aren’t controversial.

The “no” votes for Christen came from conservative Republican Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and David Vitter of Louisiana.

Narcotics officers say they shut down a marijuana grow operation on North Douglas Highway sometime Wednesday night.

Few details were released Thursday morning by Juneau Police Department officials, but they say as many as 181 plants were found after a search warrant was served at a residence at the 5000 block of the highway.

Along with the plants, grow equipment was also confiscated. Total value of everything seized was estimated at $200,000.

A tenant of the residence, 27-year old Scott Eberhardt, was charged with misconduct involving a controlled substance in the fourth degree and taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center to await arraignment Thursday afternoon.

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.