FAIRBANKS — The trial for a Tanana man charged with murder in the fatal shootings of two Alaska State Troopers is underway.
Opening arguments began Monday in the trial of Nathanial Kangas, who’s accused of killing Sgt. Scott Johnson and Trooper Gabe Rich in May 2014 while they were attempting to arrest his father for threatening a village public safety officer, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.
District Attorney Greggory Olson argued that Kangas should be found guilty of two counts each of first-degree murder and second-degree murder, one count of third-degree assault and four counts of tampering with physical evidence.
Greg Parvin, Kangas’ attorney, did not deny that his client had shot and killed both troopers, but said Kangas was not guilty of premeditated murder.
“What he did was impulsive, reactionary, without forethought, without any thought,” Parvin said.
Village Public Safety Officer Mark Haglin took the witness stand and described the events leading up to the incident, including his encounter with Kangas’ father, Arvin, who he accused of threatening him with a shotgun.
Haglin said when Rich and Johnson responded to the man’s home that the situation escalated and “Arvin was hostile, not listening to reason.” After a brief struggle between the troopers and Arvin Kangas, Haglin said he heard loud popping noises that he thought were firecrackers. That is when he turned and saw Nathanial Kangas with a rifle and “intense hatred in his eyes.”
After trying to get Rich help because he thought the man was still alive, Haglin said he came back to find Nathaniel waving a white plastic grocery bag in what he later realized was an improvised white flag of truce.
“He thought we were going to execute him,” Haglin said.
Arvin Kangas was found guilty in April 2015 of evidence tampering for manipulating the troopers’ bodies and guns after they were shot and killed. He was sentenced in September to eight years in prison.
The elder Kangas told prosecutors his son killed the troopers while trying to protect him.
