Alleged rapist changes plea

PALMER -- A man of accused of abducting and raping two Valley women has agreed to a plea agreement with prosecutors that will put him behind bars for eight years.

Micah James Beshaw, 27, entered a no-contest plea to one count of first-degree sexual assault earlier this month in Palmer Superior Court. Beshaw was indicted last year on nine felony charges -- two of them for kidnapping -- related to alleged assaults against two women in September 2001. Eight charges against Beshaw are being dropped as part of his plea agreement.

One victim was in her mid-50s and named only by her initials in charging documents against Beshaw. The plea agreement calls for Beshaw to enter a no-contest plea for that rape, in which Alaska State Troopers allege that Beshaw abducted the woman along the Glenn Highway at mile 49, just north of Palmer.

The woman told troopers she was walking home after finishing work at about 10:30 p.m. A masked man jumped out of the woods, grabbed her, drug her toward a nearby vehicle and raped her, according to an affidavit filed in the case against Beshaw. The woman also told troopers she was eventually forced into a vehicle and driven to a second place and sexually assaulted again, troopers wrote in the affidavit. The victim told troopers her assailant put his mask over her head while he drove her to the second location and later obstructed her vision with a blanket.

The victim's account -- as written in the affidavit by troopers -- also says her assailant washed most of her body with something moist and told her he was removing evidence. It is not clear how long the victim was held, but the affidavit does say she reported the rape at about 12:30 a.m. the next morning -- two hours after she said she had left work.

Beshaw is scheduled to be sentenced by Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler in July. Cutler has already accepted Beshaw's no-contest plea.

Assistant District Attorney William Estelle said Beshaw's defense attorney, Verne Rupright, filed several pre-trial motions before Beshaw agreed to be sentenced without a trial.

"When they lost his motions then he changed his plea," Estelle said.

Eight years is the presumptive sentence for first-degree sexual assault, which means a parole board will have no power to lessen Beshaw's time behind bars. The agreement also calls for a four-year suspended sentence and a 10-year probationary period after his release. The four years could be used as punishment if Beshaw were to break any laws while on probation. Beshaw will also be included on the Alaska sex offender registry.

"Our intent was two-fold. It is in getting him to admit it so he can get some rehabilitation, and it also confirms the validity of [the victim's] complaint," Estelle said, "so we can get him on the registry, in addition to the time he's going to have to serve."

By making the agreement, Beshaw gives up his right to a trial and gives up his right to appeal any portion of the case, including his sentence.

Rupright -- who Beshaw retained after dropping a public defender -- said his client was faced with the gamble of being tried on several serious charges all with long sentences. Rupright also said he believes the charges related to the second victim's allegations were unfounded.

"From our point of view it was more than defensible with regards to the second victim," Rupright said. "I think it was an absolutely illegitimate complaint. She knew him -- it didn't add up."

When Beshaw was arrested in January 2002, investigators from the Anchorage Police Department told the Frontiersman he was a suspect of a rape investigation underway by APD, but charges never materialized against Beshaw from that investigation.