Mielke charged in shootings; trial date set

PALMER -- Formal charges were filed Friday in Superior Court against Phillip Mielke, the Big Lake pastor accused in the deaths of Chris Palmer and Frank Jones.

Mielke pled not guilty before Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler to two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide. Trial was set for Sept. 8.

Palmer, 31, and Jones, 23, were both shot in the back about 5 a.m. on April 24 after allegedly breaking into the Big Lake Community Chapel. Neither man carried a gun,

according to court documents.

District Attorney Roman Kalytiak sought a $50,000 cash bail, but Cutler allowed Mielke to remain free on his own recognizance with a promise to post a property bond by Wednesday. The pastor said he owns land in Big Lake worth $60,000.

Defense attorney Pam Sullivan told Cutler that Mielke has extensive ties to the community and is not a flight risk. He has lived in the Valley since 1979 with the exception of brief missionary work in Hong Kong, she said.

"He does not present a danger to the community," Sullivan added.

However, Kalytiak called the defense's request for no monetary bail "highly unusual." He questioned why Mielke should be treated differently than any other defendant facing similar charges.

"The bail should be at least $50,000," Kalytiak said.

Cutler noted that her job is to make sure Mielke appears for trial, not to punish him beforehand. The court would be over-reacting to require bail, she said.

"A man with four children, a spouse, property and a job probably would not disappear," Cutler said.

She required Mielke not to leave Alaska and to surrender his passport to the district attorney's office. She ordered him not to discuss the case in public with anyone, including his wife, and barred him from entering any large grocery stores in Palmer and Wasilla to prevent any possible confrontation if he is recognized.

Mielke is not allowed to possess

or consume alcohol or drugs under Cutler's orders, and may not possess weapons or enter any residence or other building containing weapons.

Defense attorney Jerry Wade said during an interview that Mielke's .44 magnum -- the gun allegedly used to kill Palmer and Jones -- has been turned over to the district attorney's office. Mielke has given his hunting rifles and shotguns to relatives for safe-keeping, Wade said.

He called Cutler's ruling "an outstanding resolution of the bail problem."

Mielke walked quietly from the courtroom after the session and talked briefly in the lobby with a group of people who attended his arraignment. He ducked behind a man when a news photographer tried to take his picture, then told the photographer, "Sir, I wish you wouldn't do that." Wade quickly ushered his client away.

During a brief press conference outside the courthouse, Wade said Mielke was legally entitled to use deadly force against the intruders. The attorney said he is confident the 44-year-old pastor will be found innocent.

Mielke's duty is to safeguard

the church, Wade said, and it had been vandalized previously. The pastor had to act quickly, Wade emphasized.

"Calling 911, in light of the response time, would not have done much in terms of protecting the church," he said.

Wade said it is unfortunate Mielke's personal resources and those of the church "will be diverted from his work to his defense. We deeply regret that the grand jury elected, after hearing one side of the story, to indict."

He contended that neither victim's wounds needed to be fatal. Wade criticized a delay in emergency medical treatment on the state Department of Public Safety's policy intended to protect the crime scene, and noted "an extraordinary delay in the arrival of troopers."

Wade also alleged a third person was involved in the break-in, based on voices Mielke believes he heard.

"There has been no effort to find that person," Wade said.

Meanwhile, he said Mielke has wrestled emotionally with having taken human life.

"Pastor Mielke is a man of faith," Wade said. "He shares the community's grief about the deaths. The evidence will show that he felt in danger. The perception he had was of these shadows coming toward him."

A news release from the state Department of Law said Mielke told troopers that both men fell after he shot them. Then, one man got up and ran out of the chapel. "At that point," according to the release, "Mielke said he fired his handgun at the fleeing man through a chapel window until the gun was empty."

Asked why Mielke would shoot through a window at a fleeing man, Wade said Mielke "has asked himself the same thing." Wade theorized that after having fired the initial rounds, the pastor fired again as a "reflex act."

Jim Novak, Palmer's step-father, was among relatives of the victims attending Mielke's court appearance. Novak helped raise Palmer from the time the boy was six months old.

"I don't condone what those kids did, but Mr. Mielke made a bad choice," Novak said after the session, adding that Mielke could have called 911 to report the license number of the intruders' car.

"Now you have three families that are just shaking their heads," Novak said. "It's pretty bad. I cannot imagine taking somebody's life. He's got one person to answer to, and that's the person he's working for."