Indictment of teen thrown out

PALMER -- Palmer teen-ager Shane Harapat, who fatally shot his best friend Kenneth Alcantra in February 2003, was scheduled to be tried Sept. 20 on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.But Harapat will have to be re-indicted before any trial can take place, because on Sept. 8, Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith threw out the original grand jury indictment of Harapat.

Smith said there was a problem with the instructions an assistant district attorney gave to grand jurors before Harapat was indicted in 2003. Although Harapat is being tried as an adult, Smith said the jury should have been told to consider what would be reasonable behavior for a juvenile, not an adult, in deciding whether Harapat was reckless or malicious in his actions.

That distinction would affect the severity of charges brought against Harapat. There is no dispute between the prosecution and defense, however, that Harapat was the person who fatally shot Alcantra.

In throwing out the indictment of Harapat, Smith relied on a juvenile case, J.R. v. State of Alaska, even though Harapat's case was waived into adult court and he is being tried as an adult.

In J.R. v. State of Alaska, convictions on two counts of second-degree murder after a juvenile proceeding were reversed because the defendant's conduct was measured against the standard of a reasonable adult, rather than that of a reasonable juvenile.

J.R. allegedly showed Evan Ramsey how to use a shotgun, urged him to carry out a plan to kill Bethel Regional High School principal Ron Edwards and student Josh Palacios and discouraged others from interfering with Ramsey's plan, which was carried out on Feb. 19, 1997. J.R. contended that he believed Ramsey was not serious about actually committing murder and that it was reasonable for him to conclude that Ramsey was just bragging, according to the J.R. v. State of Alaska opinion.

Smith said the standard addressed in J.R. v. State of Alaska applies to Harapat's case and that the grand jury should have been instructed to measure Harapat's conduct against the standard of a reasonable juvenile.

A grand jury indicted Harapat in June 2003, stating that Harapat knowingly engaged in conduct that resulted in his friend's death, "under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life." Harapat would face between 10 and 99 years in prison if convicted of the murder charge.

Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak said he will most likely seek a re-indictment with a new grand jury. This time around, Kalytiak said, the grand jury will receive an additional instruction to consider Harapat's mental state against the standard of someone of Harapat's age. Both Harapat and Alcantra were 16 at the time of the shooting.

Judge Smith said he is still keeping the Sept. 20 murder trial on his calendar, but would rather err on the side of caution than risk having a conviction overturned in appeals court because of the technicality.

When Harapat shot his friend in the shoulder with a .44-caliber revolver, they were at the Harapat home in Palmer. Harapat's parents were also home at the time, in another room. Harapat initially told police the revolver discharged on its own when he handed it to Alcantra.

But a weapons expert testified before the grand jury that the gun could not simply have gone off without someone pulling the trigger. A safety mechanism on the revolver prevents it from going off unless the trigger is pulled.

Alcantra and Harapat were friends at Palmer High School, where Harapat was once a member of the rifle team. Police said Harapat made the call to 911.

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.

com.