Jury convicts rapist

PALMER — A Meadow Lakes Man has been convicted of raping a then-20-year-old woman two years ago.

Bobby Boyd, 72, was on trial for more than a week and, in the end, the jury believed his accusers. In addition to the rape charges, he was convicted Wednesday of kidnapping, assault and assault on a police officer. He’d already pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a gun.

“The facts of the case were not particularly pleasant to hear, but the jurors carefully considered the evidence and came to a sound decision. Our criminal justice system depends on the thoughtful and dedicated service of jurors,” prosecutor Trina Sears wrote in an email Monday.

Following his conviction, Boyd was scheduled to receive his sentence on May 6. He is likely facing a hefty sentence. The kidnapping charge alone carries up to 99 years in prison.

Boyd was first arrested June 7, 2011, when a neighbor called Alaska State Troopers for help after a naked woman had run to her house seeking help.

At trial, the woman testified she’d known Boyd for a while and had even considered being his roommate. She said that the day of the rape she had asked him to take her home, but he insisted on sex as payment for marijuana she had smoked.

She said she tried numerous times to run, but Boyd threatened her with a gun, at times firing warning shots. When she saw him bring rope into the loft where the rape was occurring, she said, she got scared enough to jump out of a second story window. She found shoes at a nearby house and help at another.

At trial, Boyd’s attorney, Greg Parvin, asked an investigating trooper if the woman seemed to have trouble fully comprehending events and situations. The trooper said that the difficulty on her part had more to do with communicating and expressing herself than with comprehending her situation.

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