Remorseful juror contacted Kohring after verdict

Kohring is scheduled to be sentenced May 8. Prosecutors want to send him to prison for five years. Browne said the juror's observations should be factored into Kohring's sentence.

The juror, Phillip Fritsch, said Thursday that he regretted finding Kohring guilty, and later tracked him down to explain that he tried his best to raise doubts about the evidence.

Browne wants to interview the juror but must get permission from U.S. District Judge John Sedwick. Under federal court rules for Alaska, lawyers aren't allowed to contact jurors without court approval.

Prosecutors on Thursday declined to comment about the latest twist.

Fritsch said most of what the government called bribes didn't seem corrupt to him.

"I regret being coerced, yeah. I feel like I made a decision because I had a lot of the other jury that were pressuring me to go along," Fritsch said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have gone that way."

Jurors convicted Kohring of bribery, conspiracy and attempted extortion involving former Veco Corp. chief executive Bill Allen and vice president Rick Smith. Jurors found that Kohring conspired with Allen and Smith to push a new oil tax favored by North Slope oil producers through the Legislature in 2006. He was acquitted of one count of extortion.

Allen and Smith have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the government. They stepped down from Veco, which has been sold. Kohring, a Republican from Wasilla elected seven times, resigned last year before his trial.

Some jury members had doubts at the start of deliberations, a few jurors said soon after the verdicts. But Fritsch said he changed his mind as jury foreman Rocky Capozzi walked everyone through the lengthy instructions from the judge.

"I didn't just roll over. I tried to point out some stuff," Fritsch said.

Capozzi on Thursday declined to rehash deliberations in detail but described the process as "pretty straightforward and thorough."

Fritsch had never been on a jury before and said he was stressed in part because he had to take vacation time for jury duty. He works four 10-hour shifts a week as a People Mover bus driver. After an eight-hour court day, Fritsch said he was told at work that he either had to put in another two hours for the city, or take vacation time.

ONLY ONE BRIBE

In his view, the government only proved one bribe, when Kohring took $1,000 in cash from Allen at a pub in Douglas, Fritsch said. An FBI recording caught Allen and Smith talking about it after the fact. Fritsch said he finally agreed during deliberations that was a bribe, because Kohring later told Allen that he would have sat out a key vote to help Veco.

But when Kohring was caught on an FBI surveillance video taking a handful of cash from Allen another time, that didn't seem like a bribe, Fritsch said. As Allen said on the recording, that money was for Easter gifts for Kohring's daughter.

The juror initially contacted John Davies, a former aide to Kohring, Browne wrote in his court filing.

"The juror stated that he was experiencing a lot of stress as a result of his participation in Mr. Kohring's trial and that he needed to discuss his concerns with somebody in order to allay his worries," the lawyer wrote. Browne didn't mention that the juror talked to Kohring, and didn't name him.

Juries often start out divided. Other jurors in the Kohring case said right after the trial that it was clear some initially didn't want to find him guilty of anything. But they talked it through.

When jurors were polled in court Nov. 1 after the verdicts were handed down, none told the judge of any pressure or hesitation.

Fritsch said his doubts began to creep back in later.

"I lost a lot of sleep over this. I really did," he said.

Prosecutors contended that Kohring accepted multiple cash payments, helped arrange a Veco internship for his nephew, and tried to get money from Allen to pay off $17,000 in credit card debt, though the loan never came through. In all, the corrupt benefits add up to $24,244, according to prosecutors.

But Browne wrote that all that shouldn't be factored in when Sedwick decides a sentence.

Earlier this year, just days before an earlier date for sentencing, Browne accused the judge of bias and asked for the case to be thrown out or a new trial. Sedwick ruled against him.