These two young men executed another young man in a drive-by shooting. They were convicted of murder in state court.
While these two killers were in separate Alaska prisons, they conspired. They devised a plan and instructed others outside prison to build a bomb to murder the key witness against them in the murder case. These individuals built a bomb and mailed it.
The mail bomb was sent to the witness's Post Office box in Chugiak, as directed by the incarcerated murders. The targeted witness, also a young man, was out of state. His parents picked up the mail bomb package and opened it in the kitchen of their home. The father was killed instantly and the mother was severely maimed, with hundreds of wounds to her face and body.
I arrived at their home within a couple hours of the explosion. Body tissue from the father was stuck to everything in the kitchen that hadn't been destroyed by the horrific blast. It was a crime scene you never forget. You play back the horror experienced by the parents upon opening the package meant for their son. I never forgot it.
I sought the death penalty for the two incarcerated murders who had killed and maimed two innocent bystanders in their attempt to kill the son.
Here is a summary of the key facts I remember as defined for the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, Robert S. Mueller, III [now director of the FBI] and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr:
--Histories of intimidation and threats going back to school days
--Histories of abuse and misuse of firearms and explosives
--Histories of attempting to intimidate witnesses against them
--Convicted murderers who killed in a vehicle drive-by
--From two separate Alaska prisons, a successful plan to mail a bomb to execute a trial witness
--From two separate Alaska prisons, instructed and planned with others outside the prisons
--Co-conspirators missed their mail bomb target and killed and maimed innocent bystanders
Attorney General Barr and Assistant Attorney General Mueller demanded I justify in detail why the death penalty should be applicable in this particular case. I personally felt the conduct was so outrageous that the penalty of death was warranted -- not just applicable to the killers.
AAG Mueller and AG Barr ultimately agreed with me after extensive Main Justice review by experts. But they (and rightfully so) attached a caveat: "There will be no compromise or plea deal. The threat of the death penalty must never be used to intimidate the defendant. You, as the United States Attorney for the District of Alaska, have no authority to compromise this case." Â And, due to the terrorism nature of this case, Main Justice had a key role in all of this.
Despite the forgoing facts, an Alaska U.S. District Court judge held the death penalty was inappropriate for this case. Ultimately, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with the trial court that the death penalty was not an appropriate remedy for the prison felon killers.
I personally believe heinous crimes as described herein, as well as against children, demand the punishment of death. But when I hear the political rhetoric led by conservatives, like me, in Juneau, I wonder if they have any clue as to the uniqueness of Alaska's grave problems in criminal matters statewide. When I hear a pro-life believer like myself "scream" for the death penalty in Alaska, I know the individual is not knowledgeable on the key issues. The fact is this state is very unique. Alaska, like nowhere else in our nation, has a vastly different justice system in the Bush than other parts of the state, like the Railbelt and Southeast.
Here are some of the reasons why we must think hard about whether we want to reinstitute the death penalty in Alaska:
--Our law enforcement in rural Alaska (including state troopers, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges) is gravely unfunded.
--Rural Alaska is plagued with injustice because of inadequate investigation resources for prosecutors and defendants.
--Inexperienced prosecutors, including district attorneys, are ill-equipped to address death decisions.
--Inexperienced defense lawyers are ill-equipped to protect potential death-penalty defendants.
--We have an inexperienced Attorney General who is more at home in an apple orchard than the courtroom.
--We have opinionated assistant Attorney Generals entrenched in their own death-penalty views.
--We have politically motivated District Attorneys (and an Attorney General) who place the governor's interest over Alaskans' well-being.
--And overall, our Alaska criminal justice system, from investigators to judges to counsel to prisons, is sorely under-funded.
Grandstanding by members of the Legislature on either side of the death penalty debate is a disservice to the public. This is a complex debate that deserves a thorough analysis. Hopefully the Legislature will delve into the complexities before voting.
Wev Shea, a Republican and an attorney admitted in Alaska in 1977, has been an outspoken critic of corruption in Alaska's GOP. He was a U.S. Attorney for Alaska from 1990 to 1993. He was also a deputy prosecuting attorney in Honolulu from 1981 to 1982. Shea joined the U.S. Navy in 1961, serving in combat from 1967 to 1969, with a nuclear delivery certification in A-6 Intruder attack jets.