Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- A judge ruled out objections to key pieces of evidence against Frank Adams, who stands accused of beating girlfriend Stacey Johnston to death in July 2007, putting her body in the back of his red hatchback, and fleeing from police until spike strips stopped him on the Glenn Highway at Peters Creek.

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Frank Adams

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Adams is scheduled to go on trial later this month. In pre-trial hearings Tuesday and Wednesday, Palmer Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler considered what evidence can be used against him by the prosecution.

Adams initially claimed he had nothing to do with Johnston's death. He told police that drug dealers killed her at the Chickaloon cabin where the two stayed, according to a videotaped interview played Wednesday in court.

Just hours after his arrest in July, he told an investigator dealers had threatened both him and Johnston in a dispute over cocaine deliveries he claimed the couple made in planes he piloted.

He told Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Leonard Wallner he found Johnston's body at the cabin the evening of July 27, then put it in the car because he couldn't just leave her there.

"Me and Sherry never ripped anybody off," Adams said on the video, before breaking into sobs. "Sherry's a good girl." From a seat in the courtroom Wednesday, Johnston's parents watched silently. Their daughter, 42, had obtained a protective order against Adams in May 2007, a month after they met.

The defense doesn't want jurors to hear the statements. Adams' attorney Scott Sterling argued that his client repeatedly asked for a lawyer but didn't get one. An investigator interviewed Adams, despite his being tired and distraught, he said. Therefore the interview should be inadmissible.

Cutler disagreed.

Prosecutor Rachel Gernat said Adams asked to talk to Wallner after he requested a lawyer. Wallner read him his Miranda rights, which Adams waived, Gernat said.

On Tuesday, Cutler also ruled against a defense claim that police lacked probable cause to pull over Adams in the first place.

Palmer police officer Jamie Hammons tried to stop Adams after a Tesoro employee described a man who smelled of alcohol, staggered, and headed south on the Glenn Highway in a small red car.

Adams didn't stop.

Hammons said he chased Adams at speeds up to 90 mph before calling for troopers and Anchorage police backup.

Before police dragged a combative Adams from his car, stuck in a ditch at Peters Creek, Adams said something about having a bad day, Hammons said.

"He crashed his plane and his wife was dead," he said.

Now 47, Adams has an extensive criminal record, dating back to a murder he committed in 1978 when he was 16. He was convicted as a juvenile in the grisly murder-for-hire of U.S. Air Force Col. Robert Cassell and released from McLaughlin Youth Center on his 20th birthday.

Alaska laws have changed since then, and if the same crime happened today, a 16-year-old would be tried as an adult and, if convicted, face a prison term of up to 99 years.

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