Alleged shooter pleads not guilty to 13 charges

September 24, 2006

By MARY AMES/Frontiersman

PALMER - A Talkeetna man indicted for shooting at his neighbor one evening and firing at three Alaska State Troopers a few days later was arraigned in Palmer Superior Court Thursday.

Donald Voorhis, 49, pleaded not guilty to 13 charges handed down by Wednesday's grand jury, including three counts of first-degree attempted murder.

Superior Court Judge Eric Smith accepted the plea from Diane Foster, public defender, and kept bail as set in District Court - $50,000 cash and a third-party custodian. Smith scheduled Voorhis' next hearing for Oct. 27.

The other charges lodged against Voorhis include seven counts of third-degree assault, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment and violating conditions of his release.

According to the first charge of attempted murder, Voorhis intended to kill Johnny Yow on Sept. 6, as Yow was driving home on Rampart Road about 6:30 p.m. Voorhis was near his trailer, which is on the way to Yow's home, and pointed a rifle at Yow, moved it away slightly, fired and moved the rifle back to Yow, according to a trooper report.

Voorhis ran off into the woods shortly after troopers arrived at the trailer, but later returned and fired more rounds from what Yow said was a .22 on Sept. 8. When troopers returned to the scene, Voorhis kept them at bay, hunkering down in his trailer through negotiations, high-pressure water spray and irritating chemical infusions, the report said.

About 9 p.m. on Sept. 10, troopers peeled a side of the trailer back with a borrowed bulldozer and took Voorhis into custody.

The two other counts of attempted murder state that Voorhis intended to kill troopers Nathan Bucknall and Benjamin Mank on Sept. 10 when he fired a rifle at them from the door of his trailer. Voorhis also threatened Ronald Davis, David Davis and trooper Walter Blajeski with a rifle as well, according to the indictment.

Court records show Voorhis was in and out of Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility multiple times in the past year.

Three misdemeanor warrants were issued for his arrest on

Aug. 25.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.