KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Today is Day 9 of an appeal being heard in Anchorage in the case of a Kodiak man convicted more than five years ago of killing two co-workers at the Kodiak Communication Station located on Anton Larsen Bay Road.
Click link below to hear Maggie Wall’s report.
Jury selection for the retrial for James Michael Wells began Sept. 9. Wells was convicted in April 2014 in the shooting deaths of Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Petty Officer Richard Belisle in April 2012.
Hopkins, an electronics technician was 41-year-old, and Belisle, was a 51-year-old civilian employee at the time. Both worked at Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak where the shooting occurred.
In the first trial, a jury convicted Wells of six felony charges: two counts each of first-degree murder, murder of a U.S. officer, and use of a firearm in a violent crime. He was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in July 2014.
Wells appealed and in December 2017, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the convictions and ordered a retrial with a new judge. The new trial is being heard by judge Sharon L. Gleason in Anchorage Courtroom 2.
In granting the appeal, the court cited a number of problems with the original case. The panel concluded that QUOTE “The government’s actions, unchecked by the district court at critical points, so tipped the scales of justice as to render the trial fundamentally unfair.” UNQUOTE.
The case, which garnered national coverage, shocked and divided the isolated island community, and put many on edge as people asked each other, “How could something like this happen here in Kodiak?”
Others, especially many who knew Wells, found it hard to believe he was capable of the killings.
More than 800 people in a community of roughly 12,000 turned out for a memorial held for the slain men that was held shortly after the shooting.
Adding to the frustration of locals was the lack of information available from FBI investigators.
Most of the questions during a special town hall meeting days after the murders were along the lines of, “The FBI keeps telling us we’re safe, but they’re not telling us why we’re safe.”
Wells was not arrested until 10 months after the murders while the FBI tried to build the case against him.
Prosecutors had alleged Wells was unhappy that he had become increasingly irrelevant on the job through the advancement of the victims.
Throughout the proceedings, Wells has always maintained his innocence.
The legal website PACER.gov has transcriptions of the trial by day. To get access you need to have a credit card and set up an account. There is a small fee for viewing some materials, but not for all. If you need help, call Maggie here at KMXT and she can walk you through it over the phone.
