Murder trial begins for Palmer teen

PALMER -- Kenny Alcantra was just stopping by to say hello to his good friend, Shane Harapat, as he often did.

The two 16-year-olds had been friends since kindergarten and this night, Feb. 5, 2003, they were just sitting on Harapat's bed, chatting away, while Harapat idly played with his loaded .44-Magnum Ruger Super Red Hawk revolver.

Alcantra asked to see the revolver and as Harapat handed it to him, the gun fired and a bullet tore through Alcantra's chest. He died within minutes.

Harapat, now 18, is facing charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the fatal shooting of Alcantra.

The trial, which had been delayed because the original grand jury indictment was thrown out on a technicality, opened to a full courtroom Tuesday in Palmer Superior Court.

There is no question that Harapat shot Alcantra, but the case hinges on whether Harapat was reckless in his actions and showed an extreme indifference to human life.

Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak opened his case against Harapat with a vow to prove beyond any doubt that Kenneth Alcantra's death was a direct result of Harapat's recklessness on the evening of

Feb. 5, 2003.

"This is a case not of a gun accident, but a case of gunplay," Kalytiak told jurors and four alternates -- four men and 12 women -- in his opening statement. The way Harapat handled the revolver manifested extreme indifference to the life of Alcantra, Kalytiak said, and Harapat's recklessness caused the death of his friend.

"Shane Harapat was trying to scare his friend," Kalytiak said. "He was trying to click the gun at Alcantra, thinking the hammer would fall on an empty cylinder."

Defense attorney Jim Gilmore's opening statement countered that claim with an appeal to the letter of the law and his own claim that, far from disregarding a substantial risk to Alcantra, Harapat failed to perceive that risk in the first place.

"We will prove this is not second-degree murder and this is not manslaughter, as those crimes are defined by law," Gilmore told jurors. "The law, in this case, is critical. If you're going to do justice to this case, you must follow the law to the letter."

Gilmore told jurors that in order to consider Harapat's actions reckless, they must find that Harapat was aware of a substantial risk to Alcantra, but consciously chose to disregard it.

"There is a heap of terrible evidence here," Gilmore said, "But keep in mind the crimes Shane is charged with. Never in a million years would Shane have been aware that what he was doing created a substantial risk to Kenny Alcantra."

Through much of his opening statement, Gilmore held Harapat's .44-caliber revolver while he explained what happened the night of Alcantra's death.

The revolver has been a key element of the case since the beginning. A gun expert testified before a grand jury this summer that the revolver could not have gone off unless someone pulled the trigger.

Kalytiak indicated to the jury that expert witnesses would give more detailed testimony about the mechanics of the gun later in the trial.

Kalytiak, in his opening statement, said Harapat originally told police his finger wasn't on the trigger when the gun went off, but later said it may have been.

Gilmore said Harapat doesn't remember if his finger was on the trigger or not, even to this day.

"All he remembers is that he had his thumb on the hammer, he started to lower it and the gun went off," Gilmore told jurors.

Kenny Alcantra's family and friends, including his father and mother, Joseph and Miranda Alcantra, were on hand for the trial, as were Harapat's parents, Roger and Judy Harapat.

But Harapat's parents were sitting with their attorney, Jeff Carney, and their son at the defense table. Roger and Judy Harapat are being tried with their son on criminal charges of reckless endangerment -- for buying the gun, giving it to Shane and allowing him to use it unsupervised.

Kalytiak said in his opening statement that they were not monitoring their son's obvious drug use or his mental state after providing him with weapons. Harapat smoked marijuana hours before Alcantra arrived. After smoking, Harapat fell asleep and woke only when Alcantra came over later that evening.

Palmer Police Officer Peter Steen testified Tuesday that he not only found evidence of marijuana use in Harapat's room -- several pipes and tins with residue in them -- but he also found three live rounds in the .44-caliber revolver and several other weapons in Harapat's room, including an SKS semiautomatic rifle, a 20-gauge shotgun and a loaded bolt-action rifle.

"The parents are responsible insofar as they created an environment in their home that was reckless and dangerous," Kalytiak said. "This would not have happened if not for the parents."

But it was Roger and Judy Harapat who called 911 and spoke to the dispatcher on Feb. 5, 2003.

On Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors played the harrowing tape-recording of that 911 call. Friends and family members of Alcantra, including Shane Harapat, all broke down and cried while the tape played.

The tape opens with the voice of Judy Harapat saying, "Oh my God, someone got shot, they were cleaning the gun and someone got shot."

In the background, a sporadic, frantic screaming could be heard through the Harapat home.

Then Roger Harapat got on the phone to dispatch as he tried to help Alcantra.

"Kenny, stay with me buddy, come on Kenny, you hear me?" he said, his voice shaking.

The tape ends with Officer Steen on the phone to dispatch, saying, "No pulse, he's unresponsive."

Steen was the first one to respond to the 911 call and, after he found Alcantra had no pulse and located the weapon, declared the Harapat home a crime scene.

Kenny Alcantra's father, Joseph, also testified Tuesday, saying he went to the Harapat home looking for Kenny around 9:45 p.m. that night.

"When I saw his car in the driveway, at first I felt relieved because I thought he was OK," Alcantra said, as his voice broke. "But when I got to the door a police officer told me my son had been killed and I couldn't go in because it was a crime scene."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.