Anchorage Daily News

PALMER -- Opening arguments were delivered Tuesday afternoon in the Donald Voorhis attempted murder trial.

Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak, described an armed three-day stand-off in 2006 near Talkeetna where Voorhis is accused of pointing a gun at a neighbor, shooting at another neighbor and finally exchanging gunfire with Alaska State Troopers.

Defense attorney Herman Walker described Voorhis as a distraught man who simply shouldn't have got out of bed that September morning when confrontations with neighbors escalated.

Troopers set up what Kalytiak called a mini-substation at East Rampart Loop Road off Mile 7.5 Talkeetna Spur Road. Working in shifts, they tried to talk Voorhis out of his rustic trailer in the woods, Kalytiak said.

Over the three days, the troopers also used other methods to roust Voorhis from the 8-by-30-foot trailer. He withstood tear gas, a flash bomb and water shot into his roof in an attempt to tear it off.

Finally on Day 3, troopers used a bulldozer to tear a wall off the trailer and Voorhis was arrested with no injuries to him or troopers.

Tuesday morning, four men and 12 women were seated in the jury box. At the end of testimony, four will be selected as alternates to serve if some members have to leave the trial for illness or other causes.

Among the witnesses expected to testify today are the neighbors Voorhis accosted, and some troopers, Kalytiak said.

The trial in Palmer Superior Court before Judge Eric Smith is expected to last two to three weeks.

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