The trial of the man charged with murdering two Hoonah police officers is under way in Juneau, with opening statements heard on Thursday.
John Marvin Jr. is charged in the 2010 shooting deaths of Hoonah police Sgt. Anthony Wallace and Officer Matthew Tokuoka. He faced the jury for the first time Thursday. The prosecution played the police call from Wallace's mother, made moments after her son was shot. In opening statements, District Attorney David Brower said that the shooting was intentional, due to prior run-ins he had with the officers.
"I'm going to ask you to find beyond reasonable doubt that John Marvin intentionally killed both Sgt. Anthony Wallace and Officer Mathew Tokuoka," said Brower. "He did it with a rifle at his house, while they were standing there being social.... While his (Wallace's) mother was in the car."
But defense attorney Eric Hedland said the officers did not like Marvin either and claims the entire community knew that Marvin's mental health was deteriorating.
"It will be clear that there was prior run-ins between Mr. Marvin and the police. It'll be clear that one of them resulted in Marvin being arrested and jailed although not convicted of anything. That Mr. Marvin was physically beaten up," said Hedland.
The trial will continue Friday. Marvin faces two charges of first-degree murder and two charges of weapons misconduct.
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