Republished March 28, 2019 - 6:44 AM
Original Publication Date March 27, 2019 - 9:26 PM
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Testimony has begun in the trial of a man accused of fatally shooting an Alaska police sergeant.
The murder trial of 31-year-old Anthony Jenkins-Alexie opened with viewings of body camera and dashcam footage taken before and after the Oct. 16, 2016, shooting of Fairbanks Police Sgt. Allen Brandt, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Wednesday.
The attack was planned as revenge for a friend of Jenkins-Alexie who was shot by police two months earlier, Fairbanks District Attorney Greggory Olson said.
"He set out that night to kill a police officer," Olson said.
Brandt responded to early morning reports of shots fired near a hotel, according to police, who said Jenkins-Alexie fired the shots to lure police to the location.
Both men emptied their pistols at each other, according to police, who said Jenkins-Alexie took Brandt's gun and fled the scene in the patrol vehicle.
Brandt was shot once in the chest and several times in his legs, thigh and hip. He died 12 days later in an Anchorage hospital after undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel lodged in his left eye, authorities said.
Jenkins-Alexie may be guilty of weapons misconduct and first-degree assault, said defence attorney Justin Racette, but not murder.
"Mr. Jenkins did not have the intent to cause Sgt. Brandt's death. Mr. Jenkins was intoxicated, he was suffering from grief and depression, and the argument that precipitated at (his girlfriend's house) was the spark that blew into the tinder box," Racette said.
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com
News from © The Associated Press, 2019