ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – In downtown Anchorage, Hostetler Park is dedicated to the memory of Alaska victims of homicide. Using a $10,000 grant, the park was rededicated in 2019 by the Anchorage Rotary Club and Victims for Justice — an advocacy group that works to bridge the gaps between the victim’s family members and the offices that deal with violent crimes.
Jorge Rae-Garcia says his experience with Victims for Justice — after his son was murdered in 2016 — is a testament to the organization’s ability to work with the district attorney’s office and Anchorage Police Department investigators to keep family members in the know.
“They gave me a lot of support,” Garcia told Alaska’s News Source on Friday morning. “We, the victims, have a lot of rights. The thing is that we have to look for them.”
According to Garcias, his family initially resorted to knocking on doors and asking strangers for any information that could assist them to determine what happened to their son. He also had trouble reaching the appropriate offices to get information on the now-convicted killer’s court dates.
Victims for Justice was able to get in touch with the DA’s office and continued to support Garcia throughout a 27-month-long trial. While Garcia says he couldn’t be more pleased with his experiences with the group, Victims for Justice Executive Director Victoria Shanklin says the organization has been working to streamline the process of connecting with those in need of their services.
“Our goal in the last couple of the years has been to build our relationships and build referrals at each stage of the process,” she said. “One of the things we found is that it took a long time for victims to find us.”
The organization offers several services to violent crime victims, including coordinating communications with law enforcement, court accompaniment, emotional support groups, limited emergency financial support and assistance filing from crime compensation.
According to Shanklin, the organization’s focus on remaining active in the court system previously led them to more referrals once cases were already in advanced stages. Now, Victims for Justice and APD’s patrol officers are working on developing a closer relationship, so that the non-profit will have more opportunities to assist families immediately after an incident.
“They are responding to phone calls on everything, across the board,” Shanklin said. “Allowing us to focus on the victims … I think that they understand that will help them as well.”
Victims for Justice is a small non-profit operation. There are currently three advocates on staff and they each handle cases from throughout the state. Donations to help assist the organization in continuing its mission can be made here.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -Anchorage’s annual Homicide Memorial Ceremony brings an opportunity to raise awareness and express grief while honoring Alaskans whose lives have been cut short due to senseless acts of violence.
“This memorial not only serves as a remembrance of victims of homicide, but it also serves as hope for the future,” said Sean Case, a captain with the Anchorage Police Department who spoke at the event.
Each pillar at Hostetler Park is engraved with the names of victims of homicide in Alaska. 29 names were added Saturday by the group Victims for Justice.
“This is something we all need to be thinking about,” said Victoria Shanklin, executive director of Victims for Justice. “This is something that is impacting all of us, and we need to understand how to best support those who have lost a loved one.”
Among the names added to the memorial Saturday is Chase Bowerson, whose life was taken by a senseless crime in January. He was just 26 years old.
“This is the type of loss that, from my perspective, your wound doesn’t heal,” said Jeff Trent, Bowerson’s father. “It’s been six months since we lost Chase, and just the other day, I felt like this wound to me is just as raw and fresh as it ever was.”
Trent says Chase was a good guy, adding that he was young and ambitious, possessing many good qualities.
“After his passing, I learned even more about him and some of the things he was doing, like charities, and just all these stories came out,” said Trent. “People (were) sharing instances where he’d help people that were less fortunate or needed help.”
Trent is among several others who gathered at the Homicide Memorial ceremony who are also remembering and grieving the loss of their loved one.
“Every life that we lose, it’s not just one individual or one family that’s impacted — it is our entire community, and we feel that impact every single time,” said Shanklin.
The pain extends beyond the families directly impacted. Shanklin says eight names a year added to the memorial used to be the average, but in recent years, she says unfortunately, it’s far exceeded that amount and that there are now over 450 names, and that the memorial site at Hostetler Park is running out of space.
“The whole society needs to act like this is a real problem that we have, and we all need to band together to keep it from happening to others,” said Trent.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – On an overcast, cloudy day back in October 2018, Kyle Andrews committed a crime that would alter his life forever and garner statewide coverage about one of the worst days of his life.
He says he had been smoking meth and heroin inside a halfway house when he started having issues with another man. Andrews said he felt paranoid and craved something to help him calm down and sleep.
What happened next impacted Andrews, and his freedom, and today it’s a major barrier for him finding a job.
News reports at the time say Andrews was the subject of a suspicious person call after someone spotted him acting erratically. He was found near the roundabouts at Dowling Road and the Seward Highway where he ran into a construction zone, got into a construction vehicle, and then fled from police.
Officers chased Andrews and blocked him in with patrol cars near 64th Avenue and Ashwood Street, near Polaris K-12 School. The school was put into stay-put mode.
Andrews then drove the vehicle into a shallow marsh, ignored officers’ commands, and only after being tased was stopped and arrested on a warrant for escape. Andrews was additionally charged with vehicle theft, criminal mischief and resisting arrest. Along the path of his escape, muddy tire tracks could be seen on the sidewalk by the school and orange police crime tape lined the area.
That was the latest in a string of arrests that started back in August 2018.
Because of the escape and the school lockdown, news organizations wrote a story about the arrest with a photo provided by police. In the picture Andrew smiled intensely at the camera. His face was swollen and puffy.
Andrews says he had been using drugs or alcohol, in some form or another, since 2003 until 2019.
Then, in November of last year, Andrews emailed Alaska’s News Source.
“My name is Kyle Andrews,” his email read. “I was featured in the news several years ago and have since been to treatment and made outstanding progress. I am asking you for help. I have been looking for a job since I got clean and as far as I know, I am hitting a wall because whenever you google me ‘Kyle Andrews Anchorage’ … well, see for yourself. It’s amazing what one bad day in the news can do for someone. I would appreciate an opportunity to offer you a chance to visit the men’s group I run on Wednesday night and take a look at the content of the meeting, participate and write a story. Please let me know if you are interested.”
Updating old news stories has been a growing focus of newsrooms across the country. “The Right to be Forgotten” is an initiative that pushes for people to have the right to have information about themselves removed from internet searches or other online sources, and has been implemented in places like the Cleveland Plain Dealer news organization, with funding from the Google GNI Innovation Challenge. It’s become a social justice issue, partly because some crime stories can be clouded in bias.
“Many have turned their lives around and are trying to move forward, but our stories get in the way, blocking job hunts or relationships,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s website says.
Andrews met Alaska’s News Source in a coffee shop where he was handing out flyers for his start-up catering business. Today he looks healthy; he works out and stays in shape.
“When I was using it was a like distraction, right? And my anxiety kind of took over and it became a compulsion, and so now, I just have a lot of time and I don’t enjoy wasting my time,” he said.
Andrews, like many formerly imprisoned Alaskans, faces huge obstacles finding a job and good housing.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Alaska was ranked as one of the top 10 states for illicit drug use in 2010-11. According to the survey, 13.65% of Alaska residents reported using illicit drugs in the past month at the time it was taken. The national average was 8.82%.
Additionally, Megan Edge of the ACLU of Alaska said Alaska’s high rate of recidivism is about 66%. Alaska defines recidivism as returning to custody within three years of release.
There are also societal barriers, which Andrews faces, that impede stability and reintegrating to society.
“Anybody with a felony on their record is going to face a lot more barriers,” Edge said.
One of those barriers is news coverage that vividly details a person’s crime and remains on the internet forever.
According to Anchorage nonprofit Victims for Justice, the conversation about life after prison should also include the victim.
“If someone is truly on a path to recovery and has the ability to be a meaningful participant in society again, then it’s important that there are those paths involved, and particularly for someone who may not be a violent offender where there isn’t concern in that area,” said Victoria Shanklin, executive director for Victims For Justice.
Victims for Justice is an organization that specializes in services to victims of violent crime outside of domestic violence and sexual assault.
“It’s really important that those who are impacted by the crime have a voice throughout the process and have a way to process what’s going on and heal,” Shanklin said. “Sometimes that’s more possible than others and it really just depends on the individual, it depends on the crime, and again in this case it appears he was not a violent offender. While acts are violating, and that has an impact on the victims, there is a difference there.”
Edge says that about 96% of the prison population will be released at some point over their lives.
“When we’re thinking about justice, a lot of the time what we’re really seeking is like, a level of accountability,” Edge said. “And so, does accountability look like punishment, or does accountability look like rehabilitating somebody so they become a productive member of our society?”
Andrews said his biggest struggle is finding someone who will give him a job.
“I have a masters in business and years of professional experience and can’t find a job that will hire me and pay me what I’m worth,” Andrews wrote via email. “If I didn’t have my criminal history I would be able to make 60-100k depending on where I live. It’s been a major struggle.”
Edge said there are national movements to stop prospective employers from asking people if they have been convicted of a felony.
Alaska’s News Source told Edge that some people say a person like Andrews who committed crimes should have to live with the consequences.
“I think about, like, what if I was defined for the rest of my life by my worst mistake, where would I be?” Edge said. “And I go back to this idea of accountability. So Kyle has been held accountable for what he has done, and what do we want as a community? Do we want to put him in a concrete warehouse with four white walls to stare at for the rest of his life, where we pay about $150 a day for him to just sort of exist, or do we want Kyle to be back in the community contributing to our economy, contributing to our community in a positive way?”
Andrews said it’s unfortunate his actions impacted others.
“But what I can do is I can talk about those things and help other people realize it can be better,” Andrews said.
Those new to the criminal justice system often wonder what a pre-trial conference is and what purpose it serves. Generally speaking, a pre-trial conference is a court hearing where a prosecutor and a defense attorney get together and discuss whether a case is going to go to trial or whether it can be resolved through a plea agreement.
Pre-trial conferences often take place in the weeks after a defendant is arraigned. A pre-trial conference may be held prior to trial in both civil and criminal cases.
A pretrial conference may be conducted for several reasons: (1) expedite disposition of the case, (2) help the court establish managerial control over the case, (3) discourage wasteful pretrial activities, (4) improve the quality of the trial with thorough preparation, and (5) facilitate a settlement of the case.
Oftentimes, the prosecutor will have provided the defense with all the relevant documents and police reports ahead of a pre-trial conference so that the two can have a meaningful conversation. If not, police reports or other information will generally be provided to the defense attorney at the pre-trial conference, and a second court date will be scheduled where the defense will have to decide whether or not they will accept the prosecutor’s settlement offer or instead want to proceed to trial.
If the two sides do reach an agreement, it’s possible in some cases (especially those involving less serious misdemeanor charges) to resolve the case at the pre-trial conference. In such cases a judge will permit the defendant to enter a plea and will sentence him or her at that time. In more serious cases, where additional time is needed to prepare sentencing arguments, the court will generally schedule a plea and sentencing hearing for a later date.
Victims for Justice supports Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s efforts to get Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, also known as VAWA.
Murkowski (R-AK) and a group of bipartisan senators, including Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), reached a framework in December to reauthorize VAWA, a landmark piece of legislation signed in 1994 that provides critical resources for domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault survivors. The law hasn’t been fully reauthorized since 2013. It was temporarily reauthorized in January 2019 in a short-term spending bill, but the law lapsed a month later.
The framework agreement Murkowski and the bipartisan group reached includes provisions that strengthen rape prevention and education efforts and services and protections for young survivors, closes a so-called dating partner loophole, and includes an Alaska pilot program to empower a limited number of Tribes to exercise special criminal jurisdiction over certain crimes that occur in Alaska Native villages.
The pilot program would allow Tribes who exercise this special jurisdiction to charge defendants with crimes that co-occur with DV, such as violence against children or assault on law enforcement.
The framework expands criminal jurisdiction to tribal courts to cover non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence and other crimes. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, VAWA would help lower Alaska’s shockingly high rates of DV and sexual assault, supporters say.
“The rates of violence experienced by Alaska Natives are particularly horrific and statistics should shock us all. I repeat them a lot and they still shock me. According to a report prepared by the Indian Law and Order Commission, Alaska Native women are overrepresented – by nearly 250 percent – among female domestic violence victims,” Murkowski said during a speech in December.
Alaska faces an ongoing epidemic of violence “which has left long-lasting trauma for too many of our women, children, and families. We will not allow survivors and the needs of the most vulnerable to go unmet,” she said.
The House passed a VAWA reauthorization bill in March. Supporters of VAWA reauthorization are urging their senators to act, noting that since the pandemic began, many victims and survivors of DV and sexual assault have faced increased economic instability and threats to their physical safety and mental health.
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