Judge denies bail for Donlon

PALMER — A judge Wednesday denied a request to let accused murderer Lisa Donlon out on bail.

Donlon, 38, was charged last week with murder for shooting her husband, Jason Donlon, to death in October. The charge was a reversal from two months ago when a Palmer grand jury declined to charge her. Back then, prosecutors said the jury likely felt that abuse Donlon had suffered at her husband’s hands justified the killing.

At a hearing Monday, Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak was tight-lipped about what changed the jury’s mind. But Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Rick Allen shed a bit more light on the subject.

“The story that Ms. Donlon told from the get-go did not hold up in the wash,” Allen said. “This story and this case isn’t exactly what it appeared to be at first blush.”

He said that medical evidence and other information gleaned through the investigation indicated that if Donlon was abused, the level of abuse might possibly have risen to that of a fourth-degree assault charge. Fourth-degree assault is on the less serious end of the domestic violence assault charges.

“There’s no way it rises to a level where shooting a sleeping man is justified,” he said.

Which is a far cry from what Kalytiak said back in October when the grand jury declined to charge Donlon. Back then, Kalytiak used the word “torture” to describe the abuse. He was speaking based on Donlon’s own testimony to the grand jury. Allen said prosecutors have changed their minds about the case.

“A woman was angry at her husband and shot him dead while he slept naked in his bed,” Allen said.

On the other side, defense attorney Zachary Renfro asked Judge Vanessa H. White to allow his client to post a reduced bail and order her not to leave a battered women’s shelter. Which shelter and where it’s located was kept secret at the hearing.

Renfro said nobody disputed Donlon pulled the trigger. What will be decided at trial is whether she was justified in doing it. He thinks she was. But at any rate, he said, his client is not a danger to the public. The shooting occurred under a very specific set of circumstances — an ongoing session of abuse and threats against her children — that would not be recreated.

“I understand that it’s a very serious case, but it’s not shooting someone in a liquor store or some random act of violence,” Renfro said. “This is an extremely isolated and exceedingly unlikely to be repeated event.”

As for whether she would choose to run from the law if released, Renfro noted that Donlon doesn’t have any money — her accounts have been frozen — and she doesn’t have a motive. Her kids, though not in her care and not in any place she can interact with them, are still in Alaska.

“Not to be overly dramatic, but they are all she has in this world,” Renfro said. “The shooting occurred in large part in defense of her children.”

He asked that a shelter staffer be appointed Donlon’s third-party custodian, but not a traditional custodian who has to keep Donlon in sight at all times, just a custodian to drive her where she needs to go.

Allen opposed the plan on just about every level.

“This proposal is a complete non-starter and in fact it’s offensive,” Allen said.

First on the bail amount — he noted that if it went through and Donlon posted through a bondsman she’d have paid $100 to be out of jail. He said he’s seen people with driving on a revoked license charges have to post more bail.

Then there’s the third party. Allen noted that the particular staffer proposed had testified at the grand jury and was therefore legally barred from serving as a custodian.

As for the shelter, he said that although the shelter had agreed to the plan, he could not see why it was a good idea to house an accused domestic violence murderer among women and children fleeing abusive homes.

“What they have asked for is for her to be out on $100 with essentially no supervision,” Allen said. “We’re talking about a murder here, judge.”

Jason Donlon’s mother, Theresa Cook, also testified at the hearing. She started out wanting to correct some misinformation reported in news articles about the case.

“The domestic violence victim here is my son, Jason,” Cook said. “To identify Lisa as a domestic violence victim is inaccurate.”

She also said that the place the couple lived — described in reports at times as a storage shed — was in fact a “well-built frame cabin” that just lacked a bathroom and kitchen.

The cabin was on her property, Cook said, and her son and his family had the full run of her house. She saw them every day. And she saw no signs her son was abusing his wife.

“Lisa was cared about and loved. She had other options,” Cook said.

In the end, White did not go for the bail proposal. She kept bail at $100,000, where it had been set initially. She did not approve the shelter staffer as Donlon’s custodian, saying she might have decided differently if the third party custodian arrangement had included more of a traditional custodian. Donlon and her attorney were welcome to ask for another hearing, White said.

“My sense is that without a traditional third party it’s going to be very difficult,” White said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.