Jury convicts man of attempted murder

PALMER — A Wasilla man was found guilty of attempted murder Tuesday in a 2008 shooting at the Roadside Inn.

Kenneth Goldsbury, 54, was charged with attempted murder and assault for the shooting, stemming from an argument at a Super Bowl Sunday party at the Roadside’s bar. He and the man he shot, Marvin Long, were more-or-less permanent residents of the motel.

The two never got along well, Long testified at trial. The argument leading up to the shooting centered around a box of drywall mud that Long had bought. He said Goldsbury borrowed it without asking and didn’t replace it. He said it wasn’t the fist time Goldsbury had taken his mud without permission.

Goldsbury’s trial began Thursday. By early Monday afternoon the jury was in deliberation. They came back with a verdict the following morning.

Goldsbury’s attorney, Sam Westergrin, argued that his client was acting in self-defense. He noted a history of heated confrontations between Goldsbury and Long and said that he believed Long came to Goldsbury’s room after the party to do more than just ask about the mud.

In opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Kerry Corliss said Goldsbury fired through a locked, metal door at an unarmed man. That, she said, wasn’t the action of someone who reasonably feared for his life enough to justify deadly force.