Gone from Adams' story is what he initially told police, that drug dealers killed his girlfriend. Gone too was his explanation for his swollen, bloody hands photographed by police the night of his arrest -- that he'd been in an airplane crash.
Adams, 47, is the man who led police on a high-speed chase down the Glenn Highway in July 2007 with Stacey Johnston's body in the back of his car. Johnston filed a protective order against him about a month after they started dating, and two months later she was dead.
What prosecutor Rachel Gernat aims to show a Palmer jury is that Johnston was beaten to death at a cabin in Chickaloon and that Adams intended for her to die, which makes him guilty of murder in the first degree.
Adams' defense attorney, Scott Sterling, didn't deny that Adams and Johnston had a troubled relationship, one with a lot of alcohol involved.
But Adams never intended to kill Johnston, so what really happened doesn't add up to first-degree murder, he said, or even manslaughter.
Both sides told jurors an autopsy report would support their version of events.
Should members of the jury find Adams guilty, what they find him guilty of would make a big difference. If convicted of first-degree murder, he could get up to 99 years in prison, with a 20-year minimum. If they go with a lesser charge, any sentence would likely be much less.
Trial testimony began Monday with police involved in the Glenn Highway chase taking the witness stand.
Palmer police went after Adams just before 2 a.m. as a drunken driving suspect, but their sirens and flashing lights didn't stop him. As he raced down the Glenn toward Anchorage, those in pursuit called for backup from APD.
Around Peters Creek, officer Daniel Sturkie laid tire spikes in Adams' path. That did it. His car hit them doing an estimated 90 mph, the tires blew, the small red hatchback careened over the median, across both northbound lanes and landed in a ditch.
Adams refused to get out of the car. The officers broke a car window, blasted him with pepper stray and Tazered him twice, then pulled him out and found Johnston's body in the back seat.
Jurors have a variety of charges to choose from, depending on what they conclude actually happened: first- or second-degree murder or manslaughter, plus tampering with physical evidence. The charges Adams racked up on his dash from Palmer, including resisting arrest, reckless driving and driving under the influence, are pending in Anchorage.
In 1978, when Adams was 16, he murdered an Air Force colonel as a hired hitman for the victim's adopted son. He was tried as a juvenile and released from custody on his 20th birthday.
The trial continues today and is expected to last three to five weeks.
Find reporter Debra McKinney online at adn.com/contact/dmckinney.
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