Crime & Justice

Former caretaker for blind Fairbanks woman gets 20 years for killing her husband

FAIRBANKS — A former in-home caretaker for a blind Fairbanks woman will spend 20 years in prison for fatally shooting the woman's husband.

No time will be suspended for Anthony Wayne Charleston, under a sentence issued Wednesday by Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

Charging documents said the woman called 911 in March 2013 when her husband, David Schei, was shot and killed. In an interview with Alaska State Troopers, Charleston said he dropped the woman off at her Lakeview Terrace home. He said when he returned shortly afterward at her request, Schei started punching him.

Charleston said he fell backward and pulled a gun from his pocket, shooting Schei, an investigator wrote in charging documents.

As the victim's family listened by phone, Charleston apologized in court, and said he wasn't a violent or angry person.

"I wish I could've been braver that day and not felt fear," Charleston said. "I never intended or thought this would happen. I'm not an angry or a violent person."

The family declined to give a statement.

A wrongful death lawsuit against Charleston and his former employer, Alaska Home Care Inc., is pending, according to court records.

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