Judge denies defendant's desire for mistrial

A defendant became visibly upset in court Thursday after claiming deliberate misconduct by the prosecution and some indifference by the judge: “I got you by the balls,” he said, defiantly staring at the judge.

Laron Carlton Graham, 38, continued his third day of self-representation at trial, holding strong to a theory that the Juneau Police Department’s “sting operation” to pin him for a murder is what actually landed him in jail for felony assault, robbery, theft and witness tampering.

[Defendant-turned-attorney arguing cop conspiracy is a murder suspect]

After Graham and Judge Philip Pallenberg acknowledged that Assistant District Attorney Angie Kemp fell short with supplying Graham all of the evidence before trial, Graham displayed disbelief that the entire case wasn’t considered a mistrial.

“You are showing that no matter what Ms. Kemp do, you ain’t gon’ be the one to give Graham justice,” Graham told Pallenberg loudly, standing up in his Lemon Creek Correctional Center jumpsuit with ankle restraints limiting his motion.

Pallenberg had to remind Graham of proper court decorum and procedures and warned Graham he would hold him in contempt of court if he continued using foul language and physically pointing his finger at people in the courtroom. Pallenberg also warned Graham he could revoke his option to self-represent in court.

The heated discussion began after Graham proved that copies he had of text messages between a JPD officer and an informant — the woman Graham allegedly assaulted and threatened to kill — were incomplete based on time stamps. ADA Kemp explained that she gave Graham the opportunity Monday before trial to read text messages directly from the phone, but he declined. Still, the matter at hand appeared to be the mishandled printed copies.

“It is unquestionably true that there was a discovery violation and that there was a gap in the original set of text messages. … The ones that are left out, they clearly have relevance,” Pallenberg said.

[Inmate defends himself, blames ‘corrupt police’]

Graham insisted that, if not a mistrial, he should at least be given the day to review the new material. Pallenberg said since the messages came from the alleged victim’s phone and she isn’t scheduled to take the stand until Friday, there wasn’t a need to break for the day.

Much of Thursday’s hearing proceeded in the same way, with Graham trying to prove witnesses’ statements were unreliable and stating time and again that the ADA was covering up a police plot.

While on the stand, JPD Officer Terry Allen, who arrested Graham March 17 after the alleged Gruening Park apartment assault and vehicle theft, appeared to give two conflicting statements about a search of Graham’s belongings.

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“Did I ever give you permission to go through my phone without being in my presence?” Graham asked Allen during cross-examination.

“No,” Allen replied. Later, Allen amended his statement and said, “You gave me permission, but I did not look through your phone.”

Graham went on to describe what he considered to be a inhospitable interrogation process that drew on his fear of police as a black man. Terry said he and another officer did what they could to accommodate Graham and continued to deny that he ever searched Graham’s phone. Allen said he only put it in airplane mode then kept it for evidence.

The state called JPD Officer Don Ward to the stand to testify that he delivered a no-contact letter issued by the court to Graham so that he would stay away from the victim. When Kemp entered that document into evidence on Thursday, Graham used it to strengthen his argument that a police plot was underway. The final page of the forms he received while in prison contained the number and address of the same person he was supposed to avoid, Graham said. He explained this was part of JPD’s plan to keep in communication with his ex-girlfriend, the alleged victim, who is also a police informant.

“You was not supposed to give me this. … Did you make a mistake?” Graham asked Ward.

“I don’t know that I gave you that,” Ward said.

Gruening Park apartment manager Tamara Rowcroft also took the stand Thursday as a state witness, and recalled the victim’s state during the alleged attack in March, just as Rowcroft’s employee Kelli Menze did the day before.

It seemed that Graham attempted to have Rowcroft admit a larger JPD plot through an aggressive line of questioning, but Rowcroft stated she only sought out JPD when she was trying to help her tenant, the victim, and when she tried to serve Graham with no-trespass warnings.

She did admit to complying with police requests before the March 17 event by making copies of an ID Graham provided while he was a guest at Gruening Park, but she said police didn’t tell her Graham was possibly a murderer — that was the victim who passed that information along.

The state is expected to conclude calling its witnesses Friday.

• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.