Crime & Courts

Federal prosecutors will not seek death penalty for gang member charged with murder

A federal prosecutor said Friday that his office will not seek the death penalty for a gang member accused of murder.

Filthy Fuhrer, who legally changed his name from Timothy Lobdell in 2017, is one of six members of the 1488 white supremacist gang accused of kidnapping, assaulting and murdering 32-year-old fellow gang member Michael Staton in 2017.

Prosecutors say Fuhrer and his co-defendants — Roy Naughton, 40; Glen Baldwin, 37; Craig King, 53; Beau Cook, 32; and Colter O’Dell, 26 — shoved Staton into the trunk of a stolen car, beat him and burned the tattoo symbolizing his membership in the gang from his skin with a heated knife.

It is not clear from the indictment what role Fuhrer is alleged to have played in Staton’s killing.

Murder in aid of racketeering, the most serious charge Fuhrer is facing, is punishable by a mandatory life sentence or the death penalty, which federal prosecutor Andrew James Klugman said he will not seek.

The court entered an initial “not guilty” plea on his behalf Friday.

Fuhrer, 42, was already serving a 26-year sentence at Spring Creek Correctional Center for first-degree attempted murder, among other charges, when a federal grand jury indicted him in Staton’s killing. He was scheduled to be released from prison this October.

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His conviction stemmed from a 2001 shootout with Alaska State Troopers, who were responding to a report from a woman who said someone was trying to break into her house. When the troopers arrived, Fuhrer, who was there in a stolen car, shot at Trooper Michael Wery with a shotgun.

Wery, who was not injured, fired back at Fuhrer three times before Fuhrer fled into the woods. He was found about 90 minutes later with a gunshot wound to his abdomen, frostbite and hypothermia.

The shootout happened less than one year after Fuhrer was released from prison on previous charges. He reportedly led three Fairbanks police officers on a foot chase and and pulled a handgun on them when they found drugs and guns in his car during a traffic stop.

Klugman said at a court hearing Friday that Fuhrer has attempted to escape custody at least once, assaulting an officer in the process.

His next court date is scheduled for April 3.

Madeline McGee

Madeline McGee is a general assignment reporter for the Daily News.

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