JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Prosecution and defense attorneys agree that a former Arizona lawmaker shot a man during a hunting and fishing trip in southeast Alaska in 2016. But they disagree on how and why the deadly shooting took place.
Opening statements were held Friday in the trial of Mark Desimone. He has been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the death of Duilio Antonio “Tony” Rosales.
Desimone lived in Juneau, Alaska, in the 1980s and returned shortly before the shooting.
Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige said Desimone was doing day labor at a local jewelry store where Rosales worked. The store was owned by Bill Young, whom Desimone knew from his earlier time in Alaska.
Young invited Desimone, Rosales and other friends on the trip to Excursion Inlet, about 40 miles northwest of Juneau. Paige said evidence would show that Desimone’s demeanor changed from happy to moody when he learned Rosales was coming.
She said the gun used in the shooting had been borrowed from Young by another man on the trip for protection purposes in bear country and was kept in a holster inside a backpack. At the time of the shooting, one man, Seth Bradshaw, said he was behind a cabin and another, Sam Bradshaw, was hunting. Rosales was on a picnic bench removing his boots. Other members of the party were at a different cabin, according to Paige’s opening statements.
Seth Bradshaw, who heard gunfire and initially thought someone was target shooting, ran into Desimone, who said, “I shot him, I shot him. It’s all my fault, I shot him,” Paige said. Desimone’s attorney, Deborah Macaulay, told jurors the defense is not disputing that point.
“We’re not going to tell you that Mr. Desimone was framed or that some witness is making this up,” Macaulay said. “We’re not going to tell you that Mr. Rosales attacked Mr. Desimone, causing him to have to defend himself. Again, we agree on the who, the what, the when, the where.”
The two sides differ on how and why the shooting happened, she said.
Macaulay said she plans to call a medical examiner who said she may provide additional insights into the manner of Rosales’ death.
She said she also plans to call an expert whose research has shown that when a person is subjected to certain conditions, such as being startled or losing balance while holding a gun, that it can lead to an unintentional discharge.
She said she’ll present evidence that doesn’t require jurors to conclude Desimone killed someone he barely knew for “virtually no identifiable reason.”
Desimone was elected to a state House seat in Arizona in 2006 but resigned before his first term ended after being arrested in a domestic dispute with his then-wife. That case was dropped when he agreed to counseling.
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