DA: Pastor's versions differ

PALMER -- The Big Lake Community Chapel pastor charged in the shooting deaths of two men gave conflicting accounts of the incident to Alaska State Troopers, Assistant District Attorney Bob Collins said Thursday.

Collins said some physical evidence also contradicts what Phillip Mielke said about the April 24 incident that left Francis M. Jones, 23, and Christopher L. Palmer, 31, dead.

Meanwhile, defense attorney James Gilmore said it's understandable his client is fuzzy about some of the details of the early morning shooting that occurred in a split second in a dark church. He said Mielke reacted out of fear for his life after confronting two burglars in the chapel.

Their comments came during opening arguments in Superior Court, where Mielke is on trial for two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide.

Collins told the jury that Jones and Palmer broke into the church to steal some food. Mielke was awakened in his nearby residence when he heard someone in the chapel via a baby monitor he set up with a receiver in his bedroom.

Armed with a .44-caliber handgun and carrying a flashlight, Mielke entered the chapel. Collins said Jones and Palmer, hearing Mielke upstairs, ran up a stairway from the basement.

"These two fellas were running up the stairs, bolting out the door, and he shot them," Collins said. "He didn't know who it was. It could have been a couple of kids.

"Mr. Mielke shot his gun six times at the two men, hitting them both in the back as they were running away. That's a gross deviation of what a reasonable person would do."

Collins said Mielke told troopers varying accounts of just where he was when the shots were fired. He gave yet another version to a chaplain who visited Mielke later in the day, he said.

One bullet that struck Palmer made a 9-inch path through his body, with a four-inch drop, Collins said.

"That's a downward shot," he said. "That doesn't fit with what Mr. Mielke has said in any of his versions."

Gilmore told jurors that it's easy to sit in a lighted courtroom and say what Mielke should have done. However, when the men rushed upstairs and refused to stop as Mielke demanded, the pastor felt his life was in danger. They came within four feet of Mielke, Gilmore said.

"At that point he is fearful," Gilmore said. "He shoots. They fall. One of them is moving, and Mr. Mielke is totally terrified at this point."

Mielke moved away to another part of the church, not knowing if either man had a gun, Gilmore said. Then he saw one of the men running away from the church.

"He is totally freaked and he fires out the window," Gilmore said. "He is totally overwhelmed."

Gilmore told jurors that Mielke is a good man who wouldn't resort to violence if he didn't have to.

"We will prove that Mr. Mielke would never have pulled the trigger on another person if he was not fearful, if he did not believe his life was in jeopardy," Gilmore said. "The evidence is going to be consistent as to what Mr. Mielke told the troopers."