Harapat sentenced to five years

BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Shane Harapat sat handcuffed and head down in a Palmer courtroom for more than two hours Friday, as attorneys, his family and the family of the boy who died at his hand all tried to influence a Superior Court judge's decision regarding Harapat's fate.

A jury three months earlier had found the former Palmer High School rifle team member guilty of manslaughter, for shooting his friend, Kenneth Alcantra, 16, with a .44-caliber Magnum Ruger Redhawk revolver on Feb. 5, 2003 as the two sat in Harapat's bedroom in Palmer. Harapat was 16 years old when the shooting occurred, and he was tried as an adult.

After listening to the defense, prosecution and the many family members and friends who spoke both for and against Harapat, Judge Eric Smith sentenced the 18-year-old to five years in prison, the maximum prison term that can be given to a first-time offender for manslaughter.

Just after the shooting, Harapat told investigators he had smoked marijuana that day and was playing with the Ruger, which his parents had given him for his 16th birthday, cocking the hammer and spinning the cylinder. Four of the Ruger's six chambers were loaded.

His attorney, James D. Gilmore, told jurors during the trial that Alcantra asked to see the gun and Harapat's finger slipped, firing the weapon as he handed it to Alcantra. The bullet tore through Alcantra's right shoulder and lungs and heart, killing him almost immediately.

Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak contended at the trial that Harapat pointed the gun at Alcantra to try to scare him, and, believing the chamber was empty, pulled the trigger. Witnesses at the trial testified Harapat had pointed the gun, while it was loaded, at two other friends in the past.

At the sentencing hearing, the judge said Harapat was careless - not only because he knew what a loaded gun will do, but because Harapat coupled this carelessness with smoking marijuana and clouding his judgment.

Smith reflected on why his own father had told him never to point even a toy gun at people, saying it was obviously intended to create a safe habit.

The judge, during sentencing, also referred to a statement an Alcantra relative delivered earlier in the hearing.

"The young man who talked about a gun being meant to bring food to the table or to hang on a wall made a good point, in that they are not a thing to play with," Smith said.

Harapat sat quietly and listened to the proceedings until he was given the opportunity to speak.

"I keep wishing this didn't happen," Harapat said, as he faced members of the Alcantra family. "I don't know what I can do, or say. He was my friend."

Before Smith sentenced Harapat, Gilmore asked the judge to consider referring the case to a three-judge panel for review. The judge denied the request.

Kalytiak said Harapat had used drugs since he was 12, and was not a particularly good student.

Gilmore argued that Harapat had been passing urine tests, was abiding by a curfew imposed by his parents and that there were no guns around to create a problem. He also said "case law doesn't say that you have to be an "A" student to be considered a good candidate for rehabilitation."

Members of the audience who testified on Harapat's behalf blamed the press for portraying Shane Harapat as a bad person to the community, and those who testified from the Alcantra side generally expressed shock about what they considered a too-lenient sentence for someone responsible for the death of a person they loved.

"No matter what happens to Shane, we've lost Kenny and Shane will be out again in 31/2 years," said Steve Van Cleve, an uncle of Kenny Alcantra.

Van Cleve also said Harapat was "mean and one scary dude, not this little sweet angel they tried to portray."Harapat's mother, Judy, who, in October, was cleared of a charge of reckless endangerment stemming from Alcantra's death, said at the hearing that her family was not indifferent about Kenny Alcantra's death, as Alcantra family members have claimed. "We sent a well-chosen card … to the Alcantra family," she said.

Her husband, Roger Harapat, was tried at the same time, for the same charge, but jurors could not reach a verdict in his case.

Harapat's parents were accused of buying the gun, giving it to Shane and allowing him to use it

unsupervised.