Judge gives Wasilla knife attacker 35 years

WASILLA -- A man convicted of first-degree assault after pretending to need the phone and attacking a woman in her home was sentenced Friday to 35 years in jail.

Darren Peter Adams, 36, had been charged with attacking a 40-year-old woman with a 6-inch kitchen knife and choking her to the point that she couldn't breathe. The attack occurred in the woman's Kennedy subdivision home in Wasilla on May 29, 2001.

Charges of first-degree attempted murder, first-degree burglary and third-degree assault were filed against Adams in Palmer District Court on May 29, 2001.

In a plea agreement reached with the state, the attempted-murder charge was reduced to first-degree assault, which carries a maximum 20 years. Superior Court Judge Eric Smith gave Adams the maximum sentence on that charge, and also the maximum 10 years on the first-degree burglary charge. The third-degree assault charges were dropped, but a 5-year suspended sentence on a 1991 robbery charge was reimposed.

Prior to the May 29 attack, Adams had only recently been released from prison, where he was serving time for a 1991 assault conviction for attempting to rape a woman in the Anchorage area and on a conviction of first-degree armed robbery.

According to information provided by the Palmer District Attorney's office, Adams was released from prison April 17, 2001. Six days later he was arrested for failing to report to his probation officer as required by the conditions of his release.

He was released from prison again on May 8, pending a full parole hearing in July.

Twenty-one days later, police received a report about the attack on the Wasilla woman.

According to a court affidavit written by Wasilla Police, the woman

answered a knock at the door to her home and saw a man she would later identify in a photo lineup as Adams, asking if his daughter was there and to use the phone.

The woman told Wasilla Police Officer Robert Dixon she had never seen the man before, according to court documents. In interviews, she told the Frontiersman she believed Adams had been stalking her.

When Adams came to her door, the woman said she left the door open only 3 inches, with her dog visible in the doorway. Adams asked her if she had seen his daughter. His daughter, Adams said, had been playing with the woman's dog a little while before.

Adams stayed on the front porch of the woman's home and used her cordless phone, the woman said. After using the phone, Adams asked the woman if she lived with her mother or alone, the woman told police. She said she declined to answer Adams' question and he left.

A short time later, Adams returned to the home and knocked on the door, asking to use the phone again. This time, the woman said, Adams was holding a knife, and she tried to close the door.

Adams pushed open the door and lunged at the woman, attempting to stab her, she told police. The woman was then able to dislodge the knife from Adams' hand and the two began to struggle on the porch and in the doorway, charging documents stated.

Striking the woman repeatedly, Adams dragged her into the house, court documents stated. Continuing to struggle against her attacker, the woman fell to the floor. Adams straddled her and, with his two hands around her neck, choked her until she couldn't breathe, the woman told police.

Wasilla Police said Adams ran away when the woman's screams alerted a neighbor, who came to her aid.

The woman appeared at Adam's sentencing Friday. She was satisfied with the outcome of the sentencing, said Assistant District Attorney Dave Berry.

"He will be locked up without any chance of parole for at least 20 years," Berry said. "She has had input into the resolution and she is satisfied with this."