Accused rapist will be tried in January

PALMER -- A Palmer man lodged in Cook Inlet Pre-Trial Facility for allegedly coercing an intoxicated woman into his vehicle on Anchorage's 4th Avenue may finally stand trial nearly a year after his arrest.

Michael Padilla, 44, was arrested New Year's Day in a case that has taken several twists -- among them that his court-appointed attorney didn't receive notice he was supposed to represent Padilla.

According to charging documents, Padilla picked up a woman near the Holiday Inn in Anchorage on New Year's Eve and took her to his Palmer trailer home. When she tried to escape into the woods, he allegedly chased her down and strung a rope around her left hand so he could drag her back to the house.

Alaska State Troopers dispatched to Padilla's home at Mile 52 Glenn Hwy. found the woman crying hysterically. She said she didn't know where she was. Padilla, when asked the woman's name, seemed not to know it.

The woman's clothes were wet from being dragged through the snowy woods, court documents stated, and she had suffered rope burns and scratches on her arms.

She apparently had dialed 911, and left the phone off the hook. Dispatchers heard a woman crying and a man talking in the background. The line was soon disconnected.

The woman told troopers she tried to leave Padilla's house, but he refused to let her, she said. She walked out and he ran after her, held her to the ground and tied the rope around her hand.

Padilla told police the woman came with him of her own free will, agreeing to "party and play" with him, which he said meant she agreed to have sex. At his house, he said he made them sandwiches and they were watching television when he became aware she had made a phone call.

Two troopers questioned Padilla for two hours, generating 19 pages of transcribed dialogue. The first motion filed on Padilla's behalf, by Palmer Public Defender Gregory Heath, stated the troopers took those statements without first reading Padilla his rights.

At the end of the interview, troopers arrested Padilla on charges of coercion, first-degree attempted sexual assault and fourth-degree assault. The woman was taken to Valley Women's Resource Center -- which is now known as the Alaska Family Resource Center.

Heath in February filed another motion requesting to be excused from Padilla's case, because his office had represented the victim in a case in which she was tried for a felony crime.

Another attorney, Scott Sterling, was then assigned Padilla's case, but he did not receive notice until April.

Padilla went without representation for two months. He was lodged at Cook Inlet Pre-Trial during that time.

Palmer Assistant District Attorney Rachel Gernat said it takes a while to get cases through Palmer Superior Court because the system is backlogged. Even so, this case did get stalled, she said.

Trial dates set for June required postponement to make time for pre-trial motions.

One set of motions filed by the defense asked the judge to preclude evidence suggesting Padilla was seen on previous occasions in Anchorage, seeking to pick up women outside a downtown bar.

The defense argued such testimony did not "bear any relevance to the issue of consent."

Padilla had no prior arrests for sexually assaulting women.

Judge Milton Souter ruled the state must respond to those motions by Oct. 26. Padilla's next hearing is Dec. 3, with a trial set for Jan. 7.