A man convicted in 2005 of raping and murdering a woman in Tenakee has won an appeal for post-conviction relief, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
In its ruling, the three-judge panel of David Mannheimer, Robert Coats and Patrick Hanley found that James Harmon received inadequate representation from an attorney appointed to represent him.
Harmon was sentenced to 72 years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree theft, first-degree sexual assault and attempted first-degree sexual assault in the death of 19-year-old Maggie Wigen, who disappeared in Tenakee Springs in 2003.
Wigen’s body was subsequently discovered buried in an earthen dam.
According to court documents, Harmon appealed his conviction, but it was upheld by the appeals court. After the appeal was upheld, Harmon sought post-conviction relief, arguing that his two trial attorneys didn’t adequately represent him during his initial trial. That argument, if upheld by a court, could give him grounds for another trial.
He was appointed a third attorney to represent him in that claim, but it was thrown out by a superior court judge in 2012. Harmon subsequently appealed the superior court’s decision on his own, arguing that the third attorney also failed to adequately represent him.
The court of appeals’ Friday decision agrees with Harmon’s argument, saying the third attorney’s filings were “deficient” and that “Harmon never received a proper opportunity to develop his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel against his trial attorneys.”
Friday’s decision means Harmon’s accusation against his trial attorneys will go back to superior court for further hearings. If the superior court agrees with Harmon’s accusation, it could open the door for a resentencing, new trial or dismissal.
Court upholds drunken driving case
In a separate ruling Friday, the court of appeals upheld the conviction of a Juneau man for felony driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license.
David George was convicted in 2013 after being arrested on Egan Drive by a Juneau Police Department officer. According to court documents, the officer had stopped behind another officer performing a traffic stop. Shortly thereafter, a van driven by George passed the officer’s car while straddling Egan’s two lanes.
The officer pulled over George’s van for failing to move to the lane farthest from the traffic stop, and George subsequently failed sobriety tests and a breath test.
George argued in court that a nearby vehicle was blocking him from moving into the left lane, which would have given the officer no probable cause to pull him over.
A superior court judge disagreed with George’s claim, saying that “even if this other vehicle had been alongside George when George first spotted the police cars, there was plenty of time for George to slow his van and move into the left lane behind the other vehicle.”
The appeals court affirmed that judgment by the superior court.
