Serial caller gets

70-day sentence

October 15, 2006

By MARY AMES/Frontiersman

PALMER — A man jailed for two months for making more than 1,000 harassing phone calls, was sentenced Oct. 9, then asked if he could call the attorney general.

David D. Brown, was sentenced to 70 days, with no time suspended, on one charge of harassment by District Court Judge William Estelle. Judge Estelle sentenced Brown to 90 days, all suspended and all consecutive, on each of three other charges of harassment.

Unhappy because the man who shot him on Sept. 1, 2005, was never charged or indicted, Brown made repeated calls to the district attorney’s office and the Alaska State Troopers before his arrest in August.

As a condition of his two-year probation, Brown must not make any “non-emergency telephonic contact with any state or federal law enforcement agency, elected official or prosecution office,” according to his plea agreement.

After Judge Estelle read a list of fines Brown owed to the state, he followed his usual procedure and said Brown could get more information by writing or calling the attorney general’s office.

“I can call him?” Brown said.

At his Aug. 6 arraignment, Brown requested his case go to mental health court because he has bipolar disorder. James Fayette, chief of the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, filed a motion for

the court to order a mental competency evaluation for Brown.

On Sept. 27, Brown returned to court for a mental-competency hearing with an evaluation from Alaska Psychiatric Institute that determined he was incompetent to stand trial. Dr. Tamara Russell told the court by phone Brown declined to participate in her evaluation of him, but talked about his belief people were out to get him, specifically law enforcement agencies.

“It was difficult to keep Mr. Brown focused,” Russell said. “His thought process would go off in different directions. He wouldn’t be able to participate in his own defense.”

Brown also suffered from marijuana dependence and alcohol abuse, Russell said.

But after Brown responded well to Fayette’s questioning in open court, Russell determined he was competent to stand trial. Brown was lucid, Fayette said, and his case could go forward.

James Wheeler, Brown’s public defender, reached an agreement with Fayette on Oct. 6. Brown pleaded no contest to four charges, and the state dropped one charge of harassment. Fayette acknowledged Brown could leave jail that day if he accepted the deal, but played portions of two phone calls Brown made, one to the district attorney and one to trooper dispatch.

“If I don’t get my way, there’ll be murders,” Brown said to the district attorney.

Brown repeated, “Why?” to the call-taker at dispatch when she told him he must contact them by writing a letter. He’d been instructed to do so in a letter, she said.

“The defendant is completely obsessed,” Fayette said. “He thinks he can get the grand jury to reconsider by harassing. Clogging phone lines is a self-defeating move. Because of his message of murders and gun play, he was in jail two months on B misdemeanors.”

Brown was a victim of a violent crime, Wheeler said. He believes a lack of interest or incompetence by the district attorney caused the grand jury to not return a true bill, he said.

“He understands there may be an excessive number of calls, but the victim was failed by public servants,” Wheeler said.

The wife of the man who shot him had been rude to Brown about a puppy, Brown said.

“The police report was wrong,” Brown said. “I was shot in the arm. Lab reports said it was from 1 to 3 feet, but it was 15 feet. I’ve got a lawyer. I’m going to sue.”

Estelle told Brown he hoped he could get beyond being a victim, and he should understand he has no control over what happened in the past. After an initial phone call, 99 percent of people don’t call an agency again, Estelle said.

“Children play the ‘Why’ game,” he said.

“It’s not an adult response. Hopefully, you can think how to make life better.”

Estelle also ordered Brown to stay away from Gene and Beth Peoples, to not harangue people in parking lots and to not send anyone unsigned, threatening letters.

When Brown asked Estelle if he could call the attorney general’s office to get more information on making payments, Estelle deferred to Fayette. Brown would have a perfect defense after Estelle told him to do so, Fayette said. Estelle told Brown he could mail in his check, and he could call once if he needed to, but to not call and ask why.

“It was a Kafka-esque moment,” Fayette said later. “I certainly hope he gets all the information he needs about paying his fines with one phone call.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.