'Not-Guilty'

PALMER -- The three people facing murder charges for the killing of Sean McIntire all entered not guilty pleas Tuesday and one told the judge he wanted to be transferred to Mat-Su Pretrial facility in order to be closer to his infant child. During the proceedings, a judicial services officer of the Alaska State Troopers told the judge that the defendants needed to be kept separate for safety reasons.

At their arraignment hearings, Alex E. Headrick, Erica L. Perry, and Michael A. Linn each entered a not guilty plea in front of Superior Court Judge Eric Smith.

McIntire was found dead in his home south of Palmer on Jan. 23. In court documents troopers initially described his death only as the "result of a violent homicide." After the murder indictments last week, troopers wrote in a press release that McIntire died of blunt force trauma to the head.

McIntire's house was also robbed during the murder, which troopers believe took place on Jan. 21. Troopers have continually referred to the murder as occurring "during a robbery" but it is also clear from court documents that McIntire knew the three people now accused of killing him.

Judicial services trooper Jane Schied escorted the defendants into the courtroom Tuesday. Schied told the court that the defendants were being kept separate for safety reasons. Schied said Wednesday that she wasn't familiar with the defendants, but that it was her understanding that threats had been made between them.

"[Corrections officers] had advised us that there had been threats from one party to another," Shied said.

During his arraignment, Headrick asked Smith if the judge could order the Department of Corrections to transfer him to Mat-Su Pretrial Facility so that he could be closer his newborn child. A woman sat in the audience seats of the court room with an infant throughout Headrick's arraignment. More than once, she held the child up for Headrick to see.

Judge Smith told Headrick that he could ask officials to move Headrick to Mat-Su Pretrial, but said he didn't have the power to order Corrections to comply.

"I don't have any control over where they put people," Smith said.

Headrick asked again to be moved to Mat-Su Pretrial.

"As far as I'm concerned there is no problem with me and my co-defendants," Headrick said.

Both Headrick and Linn were initially booked into Mat-Su Pretrial after being arrested in January days after the killing. Both were transferred to separate facilities in Anchorage following their arrests. Linn was moved to the Anchorage Jail and Headrick was moved to Cook Inlet Pretrial Facility. The two facilities are next door to each other on Fourth Avenue.

Headrick was brought to Mat-Su Pretrial on Friday, March 28, four days before his arraignment on the murder charge. His request to the judge seems to have worked, as he was still at the Valley facility on Wednesday night. Linn is now back on Fourth Ave., at Cook Inlet Pre-trial.

The three defendants have been held separately since their arrests in January. The murder charges came last week, but they had been held for nearly two months on different charges.

Headrick was arrested on January 28 on an unrelated warrant. Perry was arrested that same day at Headrick's home. She was arrested on a bench warrant for failing to appear in court for previous drug and theft charges.

Troopers then set Linn up using an informant. A surveillance team followed Linn and the informant around the Valley while the two men recovered plastic containers with several items taken from McIntire's house. The stolen items -- a shotgun, collector's swords, and flashlight were among the items -- had been buried in the snow off of a road near Bald Mountain Ridge.

The surveillance, and Linn's arrest, came on January 30 seven days after McIntire's body was found by a friend. Linn was charged with felony evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the McIntire murder case upon his arrest.

Bail for each of the three defendants has gone up to $500,000 since the murder charges were brought forward.

Smith scheduled all three for trial starting June 23, but said the date is tentative. Smith will be presiding over an attempted murder trial that begins June 21 and he told the defendants, their attorneys and prosecutors that the murder trial might have to be re-scheduled.