Judge denies motions by accused killer

PALMER — A judge this week denied Frank Adams’ attempts to have certain evidence excluded from his trial.

Adams, 47, is facing murder charges after he was arrested July 28, 2007, after a low-speed chase south on the Glenn Highway from Palmer. Officers had sought him as a possible drunken driver but once his vehicle stopped they found the body of Stacey Johnston, 42, in the trunk of his hatchback.

Adams’ attorney, Scott Sterling, had asked that the judge to throw out evidence of the stop and evidence gained from the car. He said officers had no reason to stop Adams. They were acting on a tip from a gas station attendant who said she’d seen a man stumble out of the station and drive off in a red car. Sterling argued the information was too sketchy to justify the stop.

“The mere fact that a small red car was seen leaving a gas station with a person that someone thought may be intoxicated is a starting point. It’s not a conclusion,” Sterling said.

He asked Palmer Police Officer Jamie Hammons, who first responded to the call, if it was possible other small red cars could have entered the highway or left between the time he was called and the time he arrived.

Hammons said it was possible but, “If I suspect that a vehicle is a DUI and it’s been passed on to me by a third person, I’m not going to wait for it to start exhibiting impaired behavior.”

On the other side, prosecutor Alison Collins said the tip — what officers refer to as a REDDI complaint, for “Report Every Drunk Driver Immediately” — was indeed enough to stop Adams.

“The REDDI caller described not only that he was intoxicated but why she thought that,” Collins said. “The dispatcher did do a good job of eliciting details.”

She pointed out that Hammons was provided a color and size of the vehicle as well as a direction of travel and a time that the car had departed.

“This was the only small red vehicle on the highway at that time,” Collins said.

Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler sided with Collins, saying the information was ample and that the gas station attendant was more than likely a disinterested third party. In essence, Hammons was right in making the stop.

“The officer does not have to wait for the vehicle to cross over the centerline, for example, and crash into a car,” Cutler said.

Sterling’s other motion was to exclude conversations Adams had following his arrest with Alaska State Trooper Leonard Wallner, then a Palmer investigator, now a sergeant in Anchorage.

Cutler was shown a video of one of the interviews, which began with Adams sleeping on a table in the interview room. Wallner walks in with Anchorage Police Department Detective Glen Klinkhart. Adams asks for an attorney.

Klinkhart indicates that he’d heard that and just wanted to clarify. Adams says “I’m clarifying that,” and the two officers start to leave. But then Adams nods to Wallner and says he wants to talk for a minute. Klinkhart asks if he should leave, Adams says yes, and so he and Wallner are left alone together.

Sterling argued that since the very first sentence from Adams’ mouth was a request for an attorney, Wallner should never have spoken to Adams. Not only that, but Wallner knew from talking to other officers that Adams had asked for a lawyer while he was being treated at the hospital shortly after his arrest.

Noting that police are allowed to continue a conversation if a request is ambiguous, Sterling said that in this case the request was crystal clear.

“Mr. Adams made an unambiguous request for counsel and Detective Klinkhart said, ‘I’m just clarifying,” Sterling said. “What we can’t allow is for ambiguity to be crafted or ginned up a bit when none exists.”

Rachel Gernat, the other prosecutor working on the case, argued that the nod to Wallner was more than enough for the investigator to feel Adams had waived his right to remain silent.

“The defendant’s argument would have merit if the defendant had not made one particular motion,” Gernat said. “Mr. Adams, as clear as day … looks at Sgt. Wallner, nods his head, and says, ‘You I want to talk to.’”

Cutler eventually sided with Gernat, saying it was Adams who came up with the idea of talking to Wallner.

“It’s not the police who are somehow trying to trick him into changing his mind,” Cutler said.

Adams is set for trial Feb. 17, with a hearing in the interim to decide more motions filed in the case.

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