Alaska News

Jury finds Jerry Active guilty on all counts in double murder case

Jerry Active, accused of a notorious 2013 double murder and sexual assaults, including one involving a 2-year-old girl, was found guilty on all 12 counts Friday.

The decision comes a day after attorneys closed their arguments against Active, who was charged with a dozen crimes.

The state argued it had an abundance of evidence, including testimony from numerous witnesses and physical evidence, linking Active to the crimes.

Active's attorney disagreed, spending much of the trial casting doubt on DNA evidence on the scene from Active and investigators' methods of testing evidence against the 26-year-old Togiak man.

Active, who appeared in the courtroom wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a dark gray suit, appeared stoic as Anchorage Superior Court Judge Philip Volland read the verdicts against him. A small gathering of the victims' friends and family wept in the benches behind him.

Active was arrested in May 2013 and accused of murdering Touch Chea and Sorn Sreap in their Mountain View apartment. Police said Active also sexually assaulted a 2-year-old girl and a 90-year-old woman and assaulted Von and Minesoreta Seng, who returned home from a movie date to find the bloody scene and Active in the shared apartment.

Active had been released from jail only 12 hours before the crimes occurred. The Alaska attorney general later said that Active, who had a history of violent crimes involving alcohol, should have received a longer sentence.

ADVERTISEMENT

After the Friday verdict, jurors deliberated on whether "aggravating factors" should be considered in sentencing Active, increasing his penalty. In the court proceedings, state prosecutor Adam Alexander pointed out the disregard Active appeared to have for his victims, forcing them to either watch or be near one another as the crimes were committed. The jury determined there were several aggravating factors relating to Active's deliberate cruelty and the vulnerability of his victims.

Alexander said that even without those factors, the two first-degree murder charges bring a presumptive sentence of 99 years each. He said Active is facing literally hundreds of years in prison.

After the verdict, defense attorney Chong Yim declined to comment.

Von Seng and other members of the family present in court expressed relief at Friday's verdict.

"I feel happy about it, like justice has been served," he said.

Von Seng said he did his best to attend as much of the trial as he could, but that it was difficult. Seeing pictures of the brutal crimes often triggered flashbacks of things he tried to forget, he said.

Von Seng said it upset him to watch the defense try to argue about evidence not being handled properly. For him, the attack on his daughter was more than enough evidence.

"If she did have words and could remember, she would have pointed (Active) out on the spot," Seng said.

Sentencing for Active is scheduled for Aug. 21.

Suzanna Caldwell

Suzanna Caldwell is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in 2017.

ADVERTISEMENT