A 34-year-old man was re-sentenced Thursday in Anchorage after pleading guilty to killing another man during a sexual encounter.
An Anchorage jury had originally convicted Richard Hunter in 2009 of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the 2006 death of Randall Roe, but the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed the decision two years ago. The appeals court found there were "evidentiary issues" that required the reversal, said District Attorney Clint Campion in a prepared statement.
On Tuesday, Hunter pleaded guilty to manslaughter as the result of a plea agreement, Campion said.
A Superior Court judge had handed down a 48-year sentence in the original murder case. On Thursday, Hunter was re-sentenced to 20 years for the manslaughter charge, the maximum jail time allowed, Campion said.
Hunter killed Roe, 47, after Roe picked him up on Fourth Avenue early one morning in November 2006. Roe, who had brain damage from a bicycle accident, was high on cocaine and had his own history of trouble. Something went wrong during the encounter, the men struggled and Hunter pulled out a knife and killed Roe in the cab of a pickup truck, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Roe's throat was slashed 11 times, prosecutors said.