PALMER -- A federal jury this week convicted a 36-year-old Palmer man on 10 felony counts, including murder as well as robbery, drug and firearms charges.
John Pearl Smith II carried a firearm on three robberies involving people he believed were selling drugs, including one that culminated in the deaths of two people and the shooting of a third at a Meadow Lakes home in June 2016, prosecutors say.
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Investigators say Smith shot 30-year-old Crystal S. Denardi of Wasilla and 43-year-old Ben G. Gross while looking for drugs in the house.
A third person, shot in the chest and head while trying to escape, paddled a kayak to a nearby home, where the homeowner called 911, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage. Smith poured gasoline around the bodies of the victims and set the garage on fire, they said.
Prosecutors say Smith in 2015 stole drugs, firearms and jewelry at a home off Knik-Goose Bay Road near Wasilla after identifying it as a marijuana grow operation. They also say he targeted another Wasilla house in May 2016, forced his way in with a rifle, restrained the occupants and stole heroin, cash and a revolver.
A federal jury convicted him on Tuesday after an 11-day trial in Anchorage.
Prosecutors originally intended pursue the death penalty in the case, in part due to Pearl’s “violent conduct against correctional personnel” and plans to murder at least one witness, according to a 2018 notice filed in federal court. Alaska does not have capital punishment at the state level, but federal prisoners are eligible for the death penalty.
But last year, amid a federal execution halt pending a review of the Justice Department’s policies and procedure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska withdrew the intent to seek the death penalty for Smith under the attorney general’s direction, a spokeswoman said at the time.
Smith is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 12, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.