JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A defense attorney for a man charged in the 1996 shooting death of his girlfriend has told jurors that Alaska State Troopers destroyed evidence in the case.
Assistant Public Defender Eric Hedland made the announcement on Monday during the trial of 53 year-old Robert Kowalski, the Juneau Empire (https://bit.ly/1ix7SC2) reported.
Hedland asked the judge to exclude any testimony and evidence about the destroyed items, saying Kowalski does not have the ability to confront that evidence.
Prosecutor James Fayette confirmed that troopers destroyed much of the evidence in 1998 for purposes of case management, storage and archiving but said some transcripts still exist. However, he accused Hedland of gamesmanship in the case.
When the government destroys or loses evidence, state statutes allow judges to impose sanctions that can range from giving the jury special instructions on how to view the evidence to suppressing testimony about evidence.
Judge Louis Menendez denied Hedland’s motion to suppress for the time being. He did advise the jury that they might be hearing more about the destroyed evidence later at trial.
Kowalski is now charged with first- and second-degree murder in the shooting death of 39-year-old Sandra Perry in a Yakutat lodge. He claims he had heard a bear and was going to their bedroom window with a weapon when he tripped and the gun went off, with the bullet striking Perry.
The state of Alaska re-opened the case after Kowalski was convicted of homicide in 2008 for killing a different girlfriend in Montana in what authorities called a similar manner.
The destroyed evidence includes all the mini-cassette tapes that contained multiple audio recordings of interviews Kowalski gave to law enforcement at the time of the shooting as well as recorded statements from witnesses; VHS videotape of the crime scene; and items from the crime scene such as a fragment of the slug used in the shooting, Perry’s bloodied clothing and bed spread, Kowalski’s clothing, a cigarette lighter, Zoloft and a marijuana pipe.
Hedland told the court he found the evidence log document buried in the middle of black and white photographs inside an 810-page PDF document. He said neither the Alaska State Troopers nor the prosecutors asserted or acknowledged the loss of the evidence in narrative form.
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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, https://www.juneauempire.com
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