Jury acquits veteran of rape

PALMER — A jury found an Anchorage man not guilty Monday of the most serious counts he faced after a Glennallen-area fight resulted in sexual assault charges.

According to his defense attorney, Richard Black, 28, faced a minimum of 25 years in prison, if convicted.

Attorney Jon-Marc Petersen said the jury chose only to convict him on misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, rather than the felony assault and sexual assault counts he faced.

“Two guys, both of them are 100 percent disabled from the Army, both of them suffer from PTSD,” Petersen said.

One was Black, the other was the man he was accused of assaulting. Both were combat veterans — Black had been a medic in Iraq. They got to be friends while receiving veterans’ services. The men went to Anchorage last summer to attend a wedding, but Black’s friend decided at the last minute he didn’t want to.

“They’ve both got anxiety disorders,” Petersen said.

Instead, Black suggested a fishing trip.

“Let’s go back to Delta Junction. We can do some fly fishing for a couple of days and then we can go back to Anchorage,” Petersen said.

On the way to Delta Junction, closer to Glennallen than to Palmer, Black pulled out to take a break and smoke a cigarette.

“The passenger is sitting in the truck and won’t get out because there’s too many mosquitoes,” Petersen said.

This is where everything goes south.

Black squirts mosquito repellent at his passenger, who accuses him of spitting on him. Black orders him out of the car because he doesn’t want him smoking in there, then the altercation became physical.

“My client was a wrestler in high school and also did hand-to-hand combat,” Petersen said, adding he put the guy in a chokehold. “Just about the time he chokes him out the judicial services van is driving by as they’re transporting prisoners from Valdez to Palmer.”

The judicial services officers — many who are also Alaska State Troopers — stop to investigate.

“They notice that his pants are about a third of the way down,” Petersen said. One of the officers says to Black’s friend, “‘Both of your pants are down, nothing good is going on.’ He kind of plants the seed in this kid.”

The man denies he’s ever had a sexual relationship with Black but otherwise doesn’t say much.

“They did a (rape kit) exam in Glennallen, got a swab in Glennallen,” Petersen said.

Black was arrested and, Petersen said, he lost control, hence the assaulting an officer and resisting arrest charges. But the sexual assault charges took a little longer in coming.

“My client hears for the first time (in court) that he’s been charged with a sex assault,” Petersen said.

The swabs turned up no evidence of one man’s DNA on the other man, but the results took a while to come back.

“We started the trial without the DNA result, but they came back after we’d already picked the jury,” Petersen said.

With the only convictions being felonies, the likelihood that any new jail time will come out of his eventual sentencing is minimal.

“He’s been in jail since June 25,” Petersen said.

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