Crime & Courts

Jury hung on attempted murder charge for man who held Anchorage boy at knifepoint

An Anchorage jury was unable to reach a verdict Thursday on an attempted murder charge against a man accused of grabbing an 11-year-old boy away from his mother inside a mall skybridge and holding the boy at knifepoint.

However, jurors convicted Raymond Katchatag, 29, of first-degree robbery and two counts of third-degree assault, according to Deputy District Attorney Clint Campion.

Katchatag's trial lasted less than a week.

Campion declined to provide comment on the outcome of the trial as state prosecutors are evaluating whether they will retry the defendant on the attempted murder charge.

"As a result, we don't want potential jurors to have too much insight about the first trial," Campion said in an email.

Katchatag was arrested March 14, 2013, following the assault in the skybridge. A woman and her son had been shopping in the 5th Avenue mall when Katchatag snatched the boy, put a knife to his throat and demanded the woman's bags, according to an Anchorage Daily News story.

Three bystanders in the area wrestled Katchatag to the ground. The boy and the three men who came to his rescue suffered minor injuries, including cuts to the boy and one of the men.

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Katchatag was initially charged with kidnapping, assault and robbery. A grand jury handed up modified charges that included attempted murder.

To obtain a guilty verdict on an attempted murder charge under Alaska law prosecutors must prove two elements: a defendant intended to cause the death of another person, and he or she took a substantial step toward the commission of that crime.

Katchatag's defense attorney, Evan Chyun with the Office of Public Advocacy, said he believes jurors were not willing to concede that the state had proof beyond a reasonable doubt for the attempted murder charge. He said the only proof the state provided was a video of the incident that was played during trial.

"He's clearly under the influence in the video," Chyun said. "Everyone who saw him that day said the same. In the video, the cops are asking him who the president is and if he knew where he was. ... Jurors probably thought about whether they could credit anything he was saying."

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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