Trooper urged Voorhis to ‘be a man of your word’

PALMER — The continuing trial of Donald Voorhis is expected to go to the jury by the middle of next week.

Lawyers in the case expect to start making closing statements Tuesday, after which it will be up to a jury to decide Voorhis’ fate.

Voorhis was arrested Sept. 10, 2006 following a three-day standoff with Alaska State Troopers. Troopers went to his Talkeetna-area cabin Sept. 8 with arrest warrants for court dates Voorhis had missed. They also hoped to talk to him about allegations he’d fired his rifle at a neighbor. By the end of the standoff, troopers had used a bulldozer to tear down two walls of the trailer. Voorhis was arrested and is on trial facing three misdemeanor and 10 felony charges, including attempted murder.

Friday morning, the jury watched videos from the scene.

One video, taken the second day of the standoff after troopers had tried numerous times to use pepper spray bombs and another chemical irritants to get Voorhis to come out, features Trooper Mike Wooten speaking into a bullhorn.

An agreement is reached: Voorhis says he will come out at 5 p.m.

“I’ll be back at 5 o’clock, Donald,” Wooten says. “We’re going to walk out of here together.”

On the video, 5 p.m. rolls around and still no Voorhis. Wooten attempts to re-establish contact and gets a response that had become very familiar over the course of the standoff — Voorhis says he’ll come out once he’s done going to the bathroom. Wooten urges him to “be a man of your word.”

“Nobody’s shot anything into your trailer. Nobody’s thrown anything into your trailer. Nobody’s thrown anything at your trailer. Nobody’s tried to come in. I did just like I said I was going to do. Now you need to do what you said you were going to do and come out the front door with nothing in your hands,” Wooten says over the bullhorn.

Voorhis stays inside. He’s arrested the next day.