Anchorage Daily News

Leland Chasteen, charged with attempted murder for slashing his father and his father's roommate with a machete last year, pleaded to a reduced charge of assault and was sentenced Friday to 10 years.

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Leland Chasteen

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Chasteen, who has been diagnosed as bipolar and schizophrenic, was off his medication and having a delusional episode during the attack, he and his father have said. Chasteen struggled for years to stay on his medication and had been at Alaska Psychiatric Institute just days before the attack. He had an appointment with a psychiatrist that morning.

Chasteen's father, Corey, said publicly that he doesn't blame his son for the attack that left him with lasting injuries, making him unable to work. Instead, Corey Chasteen blames his son's inability to get psychiatric treatment.

Corey Chasteen sat in the back of the courtroom Friday while his son was sentenced.

"He's the victim, I'm not," he said.

Chasteen's roommate, Jeremy Marvin, the other victim in the attack, did not show up for the sentencing.

Leland Chasteen was one of two men charged with machete attacks last year. No one was killed in his case.

The other attack, in Palmer, left one person dead and one seriously injured. Christopher Erin Rogers is slated to go on trial for those crimes later this year. Rogers is also charged with murder and attempted murder with a gun in Anchorage.

Find reporter Julia O'Malley at adn.com/contact/omalley.

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