Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- Clay Hein was acquitted Tuesday of all eight counts against him, including two of attempted murder that resulted after he fired several rounds into a car with two people in it.

Juror Mariela Figueroa said it wasn't even close. Only one of nine women and three men in the jury, after the trial, thought he should have been charged with anything, she said.

At first, Figueroa said, the jury was stuck 9-3 for acquittal. Some considered convicting Hein of lesser charges, including two counts of third-degree assault and two of weapons misconduct, both felonies, she said.

In the end, though, she said some jurors felt Hein even showed restraint since he didn't empty the ammunition clip into the car. Thirteen shell casings were found at the scene.

Alaska State Troopers arrested Hein, 20, of Wasilla on May 2, 2007, on charges he fired a Glock 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun into a Chevrolet Malibu driven by Joshua Bussell, 19, of Palmer at the park-and-ride lot at Trunk Road and Parks Highway.

Neither Bussell nor his passenger, Scott Payne, 18, of Eagle River, was injured in the shooting that took place early on April 29.

A disagreement over a drug deal apparently caused events to escalate, according to assistant district attorney Mike Walsh.

During final arguments Friday afternoon, Walsh and defense attorney Josh Fannon traded barbs about who told the truth on the witness stand.

Walsh called Hein an outright liar.

"He's the one witness that can't be believed. He's the one who shot into that vehicle with the intent to kill the occupants," Walsh told jurors.

Fannon argued throughout the trial that all of Hein's shots were slanted downward; three hit a wheel, indicating Hein was trying to stop Bussell's car from running over Cord Lewis, Hein's roommate at the time.

Fannon told the jury that if Hein had wanted to kill Bussell and Payne, all he had to do was lift the gun and shoot them.

"He had ample opportunity to kill those people. Attempted murder is a big fat no," Fannon said.

The jury agreed.

Hein's mother, Meg Hein, cried as the verdicts were read and each of the charges went down.

"I'm very relieved," she said in the hallway outside the courtroom. "I knew the truth would come out."

Mel Hein, the defendant's father, said, "This 11-month nightmare is over. He's been honest and told the truth throughout. And the physical evidence proved him right."

Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler said the verdict should provide a lesson.

"We should get young people to stay home after midnight," she said. She later amended that to say adults should be home by midnight as well.

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