Judge: Year in jail appropriate man who beat woman

PALMER — Just in time to serve as a Halloween cautionary tale, the Alaska Court of Appeals has denied a request for a lighter sentence from a man convicted of brutally beating his girlfriend in Talkeetna on Halloween night 2010.

Timothy Myers was arrested after his girlfriend called for help from the side of the road. The couple had attended a party earlier in the night and on the drive home Myers exploded.

He attacked the woman, “punching her in the face multiple times, biting her, strangling her and kicking her in the body and face. He said he was going to kill her,” according to the ruling issued Friday and penned by Appeals Court Judge Joel Bolger.

The woman was able to kick Myers in the mid section enough times for him to let her go. They both got out of the Chevy Blazer, the girlfriend locked it with her keychain remote and Myers busted out the windows and mirrors.

Myers screamed at medics when they arrived, grabbed a knife off the ground and hopped back in the SUV. Medics examined the woman and found that she had “three cracked ribs, her two front teeth were knocked out and she had two black eyes,” Bolger wrote. She had bruises and scrapes all up and down her arms and legs, back and shoulders.

Myers was arrested and charged with assault, criminal mischief, drunken driving, refusing a breath test and marijuana possession. He pleaded guilty to the assault and criminal mischief charges. Criminal mischief is a charge used to prosecute malicious property damage and in this case refers to the smashed Blazer windows and mirrors.

Palmer District Court Judge John Wolfe sentenced Myers in March to a year in jail with another year suspended that he could choose to impose if Myers didn’t do well on probation.

State convicts are entitled to one third off their sentences for good behavior and can count time already served awaiting trial against their sentences. At least as early as September Myers was out of jail.

But he might be heading back. Court records show prosecutors have petitioned to revoke his probation, usually an indication that he’s had trouble complying with court orders while free.

But the appeal argues that a year was too much.

“Myers argues that his composite sentence is excessive. He argues that he has a moderate criminal history, that his acts were not charged as a felony and that it was reasonable for him to break out the window and mirrors on the vehicle so that he could get out of the cold weather,” according to Bolger’s decision.

The appeals judge notes that Myers does not claim Wolfe over-emphasized anything in his decision and given that Wolfe had found Myers to be among the worst offenders who commit that particular charge of misdemeanor assault, he could have imposed a year just on the assault charge.

“But the judge did not impose a maximum sentence for either offense,” Bolger wrote. “We conclude that Myers’s sentence was not clearly mistaken.”

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