Another trial for man who ran over festival-goer

PALMER — The prosecutor trying the case against a Trapper Creek man accused of murder for running over a reveler at a music festival last summer has decided to re-try him on charges for which the jury failed to reach a verdict.

Rodney Humphrey, 49, was charged with attempted murder, drunken driving and a number of other charges for the August 2009 incident in which Humphrey drove his pickup over Aaron Dorfman of Texas as Dorfman slept in a field near the Trapper Creek Bluegrass Festival.

Prosecutors allege Humphrey had acted intentionally — he did not like the revelers and thought they were invading his corner of Alaska. Humphrey’s attorney argued that his client didn’t mean to run Dorfman over and presented evidence that his client had a brain injury that affected his coordination.

The jury did not reach a verdict on the murder or drunken driving charges, but did convict him for driving without a license and not rendering aid at an accident scene.

Assistant District Attorney Allison Collins told Superior Court Judge Vanessa White on Thursday that she planned to re-try the case.

Humphrey’s attorney, Jeff Bradley, asked for a window of time to get an appeals court to decide whether White ruled correctly in barring some of the evidence of Humphrey’s brain injury from trial.

White agreed to that request, setting a re-trial date in October.

—Andrew Wellner