Speaker 1: I never could quite make a decision as to whether
Speaker 1: he was a dangerous man or whether something snapped.
Speaker 2: A quite Alaska man known for his ability to live
Speaker 2: off the grid, was accused of murdering his neighbors.
Speaker 1: They found him in the creek, and they found her
Speaker 1: about a week later. She'd been shot in the head
Speaker 1: and there was evidence of sex, and they thought it
Speaker 1: was postmortem.
Speaker 2: As the investigation heated up, the suspect took off.
Speaker 1: He went on the run pretty quickly when it became
Speaker 1: obvious that he was the focus of their investigation.
Speaker 2: A month later, the suspect was in custody and faced
Speaker 2: the fight of his life.
Speaker 1: They just couldn't believe he did it. They fundamentally couldn't.
Speaker 1: The guy they knew wouldn't do something like that.
Speaker 2: By the end of his trial, the tables would be
Speaker 2: turned and the defense lawyers would be the ones defending themselves.
Speaker 1: He said, you have convicted an innocent man.
Speaker 2: Today we're in Choultna, Alaska, for the conclusion of the
Speaker 2: Mountain in Man Murders. I'm slung Glass and this is
Speaker 2: American homicide. Just to note that this episode contains some
Speaker 2: graphic content. Please take care while.
Speaker 3: Listening murders in cities and towns, you know that happen
Speaker 3: all the time, but a double murder in the middle
Speaker 3: of the wilderness is unique. It's different.
Speaker 2: Maybe you've seen those videos where women of all ages
Speaker 2: are asked the same question, if.
Speaker 4: You were stranded in the woods, would you rather be
Speaker 4: stranded with a random man or random bear?
Speaker 2: The answers were overwhelmingly one sided.
Speaker 4: And ninety percent of females are choosing to be stranded
Speaker 4: with the random bear over a random man.
Speaker 3: I don't think there's anything scarier in the wilderness than
Speaker 3: a human out to kill someone.
Speaker 2: Robin Bearfield authored Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier,
Speaker 2: a book about true crime in Alaska. Her book covers
Speaker 2: the murders of husband and wife Rick Berry and Debbie
Speaker 2: reehor over Memorial Day weekend in nineteen ninety seven. The
Speaker 2: couple was murdered near their cabin in the remote woods
Speaker 2: of Chulitna, Alaska.
Speaker 3: Chu Litina is not a town, but it's a designated
Speaker 3: wilderness area. Most people who live in the wilderness are
Speaker 3: prepared to run into bears or angry moose or other
Speaker 3: animals that you need to watch out for, and you
Speaker 3: don't expect to run into a murderer in the Alaska wilderness.
Speaker 3: So I think that's one of the reasons that made
Speaker 3: this story such a big deal.
Speaker 2: Located miles from the nearest road and an hour from
Speaker 2: the closest town, Chulitna is as off the grid as
Speaker 2: you can get.
Speaker 3: People who live in the wilderness they do so because
Speaker 3: they want to be independent, They want to live on
Speaker 3: their own. They enjoy that freedom. So you're on your
Speaker 3: own much more up here, and it's frightening when you realize.
Speaker 2: That at the time, there were only a dozen or
Speaker 2: so cabins in the area where Rick and Debbie lived.
Speaker 3: In Alaska, neighbors are important, you know. It's you want
Speaker 3: people to live close enough to you so that you
Speaker 3: can help each other if you have a problem.
Speaker 2: Rick and Debbie's nearest neighbor lived about a mile away.
Speaker 2: His name was Paul Stavignord.
Speaker 3: Paul was a year round resident that was his home
Speaker 3: while Rick and Debbie came and went.
Speaker 2: At the time, Paul Stavignort was forty six years old.
Speaker 2: He had long hair, a thick, bushy beard, and wore
Speaker 2: around wire rimmed glasses. Years earlier, Paul hurt his back
Speaker 2: working for the railroad. That injury forced him to quit
Speaker 2: his job. That's when he started making artwork, playing the
Speaker 2: flute and living and off the grid mountain man lifestyle.
Speaker 3: And sometimes people living in a wilderness setting. Look at
Speaker 3: the people who come and go like that as outsiders,
Speaker 3: you know, they don't appreciate him, They resent them, And
Speaker 3: I think that probably was part of the problem with
Speaker 3: his relationship with Brick and Debbie. They suspected he stole
Speaker 3: things from their cabin and he seemed to have a
Speaker 3: real problem with them. Rick and Debbie's family knew this.
Speaker 3: Rick Anddebbie talked about it quite a bit.
Speaker 2: Paul was the lead suspect in Rick and Debbie's murder.
Speaker 2: Upon searching his property, they found a journal that detailed
Speaker 2: an affair Paul was having with Debbie. So what was it?
Speaker 2: Were they enemies or lovers?
Speaker 3: His family and friends described him as a kind man
Speaker 3: who was spiritual and was nonviolent. They did not believe
Speaker 3: he could have killed two people.
Speaker 2: Not only that, but Paul had an alibi for the
Speaker 2: weekend Rick and Debbie were murdered.
Speaker 3: He said he'd gone to Fairbanks for the weekend, and
Speaker 3: he even gave them the names of restaurants where he stopped,
Speaker 3: places where he stopped to get gased or stopped to
Speaker 3: get snacks, but he did not have any receipts.
Speaker 2: Paul explained that he didn't have any receipts because his
Speaker 2: off the grid lifestyle meant he didn't have credit cards
Speaker 2: or checking account He only paid in cash.
Speaker 3: And when the troopers followed up, nobody remembered seeing him
Speaker 3: at any of the places where he said he'd gone,
Speaker 3: so his alibi did not hold up.
Speaker 2: After the police asked for a sample of his DNA,
Speaker 2: Paul Stavinyard went on the run and vanished into the wilderness.
Speaker 3: The man hunt was a big deal and the troopers
Speaker 3: threw a lot of resources at it. I know a
Speaker 3: woman who had a cabin in Chulitn at the time,
Speaker 3: and she said it was crazy up there after all
Speaker 3: of this happened, because there were choppers flying overhead all
Speaker 3: the time. She felt like she was in a war zone.
Speaker 3: It was just crazy for a few weeks until they
Speaker 3: finally found him.
Speaker 2: After four weeks on the run, Paul Stavignord turned himself in,
Speaker 2: but he wasn't alone. He had hired a lawyer and
Speaker 2: explained to the police that something in his past caused
Speaker 2: him to run unrelated to the murders of his neighbors.
Speaker 5: He had had unfortunate experience with law enforcement prior to
Speaker 5: this event.
Speaker 2: That's Paul's friend Keith Beja.
Speaker 5: Crusting policemen was probably not his first reaction, so.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about why. Growing up, Paul struggled with drug
Speaker 2: addiction and was expelled from high school. Over the course
Speaker 2: of two years, he was arrested five times for breaking
Speaker 2: into cabins, stealing a car, and other crimes. Author Robin
Speaker 2: Bearfield explains.
Speaker 3: Paul's biggest run in with the police was when he
Speaker 3: was released from prison for a liquor store robbery. He
Speaker 3: and his two friends decided to rob the First National
Speaker 3: Bank of Anchorage and Seward.
Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy one, Paul and two others pulled off
Speaker 2: one of the biggest bank robberies in Alaska's history.
Speaker 3: They stole one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But they
Speaker 3: weren't very good criminals. They hadn't really planned their getaway
Speaker 3: very well, and they picked one of the worst places
Speaker 3: in Alaska to try to escape from because it's not remote,
Speaker 3: but there's only one road that goes into it. So
Speaker 3: the police chief easily arrested him and sent him back
Speaker 3: to prison.
Speaker 2: Four years in prison was enough for Paul Stavignork to
Speaker 2: make some changes.
Speaker 3: He decided he wanted to turn his life around, and
Speaker 3: he took a job with the Alaska Railroad inspecting the tracks.
Speaker 3: Married a waitress for the railroad, and they had two children,
Speaker 3: built a cabin in chew Litna. He loved the chew
Speaker 3: Litna area, and Paul became very interesting respective He became
Speaker 3: very spiritual, and he started to do art work.
Speaker 2: That's when Paul adopted his sort of hippie lifestyle and
Speaker 2: threw himself into the arts.
Speaker 3: He carved flutes and he also became fairly skilled at
Speaker 3: playing the flute, and he ended up recording three albums
Speaker 3: of flute music.
Speaker 2: But playing the flute didn't pay the bills. His wife
Speaker 2: divorced him in the early nineteen nineties and told the
Speaker 2: court Paul didn't support her emotionally or financially. She got
Speaker 2: custody of their children and moved away. Paul remained in
Speaker 2: chou Lenna.
Speaker 3: There wasn't two sides to Paul Stabnard, the peaceful, calm
Speaker 3: person that most people considered him now and then this
Speaker 3: guy who couldn't stay out of trouble when he was younger.
Speaker 2: Two sides of Paul Stavignyard. That's what lawyers would have
Speaker 2: to argue over when he went on trial for the
Speaker 2: murders of Rick Berry and Debbie Reehort.
Speaker 6: Suddenly the trial wasn't about us proving that it was him.
Speaker 6: It was he had a story to tell, and that
Speaker 6: changes the complexion entirely.
Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety eight, Paul Stavignord went on trial. He
Speaker 2: was accused of killing his neighbors Rick Berry and Debbie
Speaker 2: reehor Over the course of eight weeks, the jury heard
Speaker 2: conflicting testimony from dozens of witnesses from both sides. Even
Speaker 2: Gavin Saha, the man who camped near rick Berry's dead body, testified.
Speaker 2: All of it left the jurors looking puzzled and confused
Speaker 2: and wondering who the real Paul Stavinord was.
Speaker 1: He went on the run pretty quickly when it became
Speaker 1: obvious that he was the focus of their investigation, and
Speaker 1: he was able to stay on the run for quite
Speaker 1: a while.
Speaker 2: Judge Eric Smith presided over the trial that had divided
Speaker 2: the small Alaskan town.
Speaker 1: It hit the community pretty hard. I think the circumstances
Speaker 1: of it, the manner in which they were killed was
Speaker 1: also pretty shocking, and I know that mister Stavangerd's supporters
Speaker 1: were very affected by the whole story. They just couldn't
Speaker 1: believe he did it. You always wonder what's come of
Speaker 1: our community when something like this happens.
Speaker 2: Prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
Speaker 2: the soft spoken defendant was capable of murdering his neighbors,
Speaker 2: but they were limited in what they could say.
Speaker 1: We kept his criminal history out of the case, so
Speaker 1: the jury didn't know about his criminal history.
Speaker 2: The time Paul stole a car inadmissible, the time Paul
Speaker 2: robbed a liquor store inadmissible, and the time Paul robbed
Speaker 2: a bank also inadmissible.
Speaker 1: I found that mister Stavangerord's criminal history, especially the armed
Speaker 1: robbery and the escape, would tend to make the jury
Speaker 1: think he was a criminal and therefore make him more
Speaker 1: likely to have done what the state alleged he had done.
Speaker 2: So prosecutors had to rely on DNA evidence found on
Speaker 2: Debi rehor that pointed back to Paul Stavignort.
Speaker 1: The autopsy on this Reheor's body revealed there was evidence
Speaker 1: of sex. They found semen on her body, and they
Speaker 1: did a DNA test. The DNA did match with what
Speaker 1: was found on this rehor.
Speaker 2: In their opening statement, the defense team surprised everyone when
Speaker 2: they admitted Paul did shoot Rick Beery, but they said
Speaker 2: he did not shoot Debbie Rehor, and they claimed the
Speaker 2: sex between Debbie and Paul was consensual.
Speaker 1: All of this caused the courtroom to stir mister Stavangeord.
Speaker 1: He and his attorneys didn't say much of anything publicly
Speaker 1: until opening statements in the trial, so it was pretty dramatic.
Speaker 2: The defense also called a half dozen witnesses who spoke
Speaker 2: Paul Stavinords peaceful and spiritual demeanor. But first they spent
Speaker 2: a lot of time attacking the character of one of
Speaker 2: the victims, Rick Berry.
Speaker 1: They painted a picture of mister Berry as a very difficult, arrogant,
Speaker 1: angry man.
Speaker 2: A handful of neighbors testified that Rick and Paul did
Speaker 2: not like one another and that they often clashed.
Speaker 1: One of the run ins had to do with mister
Speaker 1: Berry believing that mister Stavangerd had taken some equipment from
Speaker 1: their cabin and confronted Stavangerd about it.
Speaker 2: The defense also called a half dozen witnesses who spoke
Speaker 2: to Paul stavinorts peaceful and spiritual demeanor.
Speaker 1: They did say that he had become this very mellow
Speaker 1: mountain man, that he lived a simple life, and that
Speaker 1: he was an artisan. He made this jewelry, and he
Speaker 1: was a flute player and kind of a very new
Speaker 1: agey kind of guy.
Speaker 2: And then the defense pointed out that troopers found a
Speaker 2: lot in Rick and Debbie's cabin, one they believe was
Speaker 2: a gift from Paul.
Speaker 1: They painted a picture of mister Stavangerd having very antagonistic
Speaker 1: relationships with mister Berry, but a very good relationship with
Speaker 1: miss Reehorr, And so they tried to persuade the jury
Speaker 1: that it would be a natural thing under those circumstances
Speaker 1: for miss Rehorn and mister Stavinger had to have this
Speaker 1: sexual relationship.
Speaker 2: On the stand, Paul Stavignor took several deep breaths and
Speaker 2: spoke very slowly as he discussed how he cared for Debbie.
Speaker 1: He's an articulate, intelligent man, and he was pretty calm
Speaker 1: and collected on the stand.
Speaker 2: He said that on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety seven, he was out on a walk
Speaker 2: and bumped into Debbie.
Speaker 1: Mister Stavanger had claimed that he met miss Reehorr on
Speaker 1: kind of a grassy knoll above the creek and they
Speaker 1: had sex together, So the DNA match came from the
Speaker 1: consensual sex that he claimed he had with miss Rehear.
Speaker 2: But afterwards everything changed.
Speaker 1: And I think he was playing his flute for her
Speaker 1: when mister Berry showed up on his four wheeler and
Speaker 1: got very upset and started shooting.
Speaker 2: According to Paul Savignyorn's testimony, Rick Beery yelled, I'm going
Speaker 2: to blow your head off, pulled out his gun and
Speaker 2: fired at Paul. But Rick missed and struck and killed
Speaker 2: his wife, Debbie.
Speaker 1: He accidentally shot his wife in the head, and mister
Speaker 1: stavangerd returned fire and shot mister Berry in the head.
Speaker 6: He was shooting at me, and.
Speaker 5: I believe that I was going to be killed.
Speaker 2: That was the voice of Paul Savignorn on the witness
Speaker 2: stand describing what happened.
Speaker 6: It seems like an awful coincidence that she would actually
Speaker 6: have been hit by a stray.
Speaker 2: Bullet District Attorney Bill A.
Speaker 6: Stell His scenario was that they were having can sensual sex.
Speaker 6: That when they heard the approach of a four wheeler,
Speaker 6: he stood up to see who it was, which one
Speaker 6: wonders why would one stand up where somebody can see you,
Speaker 6: And that Rick Barry saw him and shot at him
Speaker 6: and accidentally killed Deborah, And that he shot Rick Berry
Speaker 6: in self defense at some number of yards with a
Speaker 6: cheap little twenty two pistol, standing there naked it was implausible.
Speaker 2: During cross examination, Paul Stavignort said his story was so
Speaker 2: outrageous that he didn't think anyone would believe him.
Speaker 6: The details about his relationship were totally at odds with
Speaker 6: everybody in Deborah's acquaintance, her family, her coworkers, her friends.
Speaker 6: None of what he described was believable to them, that
Speaker 6: she was behaved in that way.
Speaker 2: Paul Stavignord testified that afterwards he felt sadness, terror, hopelessness, shame, guilt,
Speaker 2: and remorse, so he panicked and said he got rid
Speaker 2: of the evidence. He picked up bullet casings and burned
Speaker 2: his clothes. Even with his bad back, he said he
Speaker 2: managed to drag Debbie's body under some tree limbs. He
Speaker 2: said Rick's bonnie had floated away to a deep hole
Speaker 2: in a creek and that's where he left it.
Speaker 6: His story was inconsistent with what he said.
Speaker 2: First, Paul agreed and admitted he lied to troopers and
Speaker 2: even to his friends. Here's more from Judge Eric Smith,
Speaker 2: who presided over the trial.
Speaker 1: Mister Stavanger lied a lot. The prosecution relied quite heavily,
Speaker 1: and the fact that he.
Speaker 2: Lied, Paul Stavanord said, one lie led to another, and
Speaker 2: that's when he realized he was in too deep, and
Speaker 2: in order to keep his story straight, he wrote down
Speaker 2: what happened.
Speaker 1: He had a journal, and in the part of the
Speaker 1: journal he had written out notes, and it appeared it
Speaker 1: was like he was writing down the story he was
Speaker 1: going to tell the troopers about where he was and
Speaker 1: what he did.
Speaker 2: Durors had to decide who was the real Paul Stavignord,
Speaker 2: a loner who snapped and killed his neighbors, Rick Bery
Speaker 2: and Debbie Reehor or a peaceful flute plane mountain man
Speaker 2: who killed Rick Bury in self defense.
Speaker 1: It was a hotly contested case and there was a
Speaker 1: lot of emotion running through it.
Speaker 2: Judge Eric Smith presided over the case.
Speaker 1: So the whole notion of mister Stavanger being this peaceful
Speaker 1: guy and mister Barry this angry guy, was very essential
Speaker 1: to their case.
Speaker 2: Paul Stavinord testified that Rick Bery caught him having an
Speaker 2: affair with his wife and then took out his gun
Speaker 2: and fired at him, but the bullet hit Debbie by mistake.
Speaker 2: Paul said he returned fire and killed Rick in self defense.
Speaker 1: They played into this sort of mellow guy in the wilderness,
Speaker 1: and the flute was a key piece of the picture
Speaker 1: they painted.
Speaker 2: According to Paul, he played his flute for Debbie just
Speaker 2: before the two of them had sex, and that's when
Speaker 2: things in the courtroom got even more weird. Paul's lawyer
Speaker 2: asked the judge to allow Paul to play this song
Speaker 2: he performed for Debbie.
Speaker 1: So the flute playing would play into the effort they
Speaker 1: were trying to make of him as a peaceful man,
Speaker 1: and they were certainly allowed to make that argument, just
Speaker 1: as the defense was allowed, up to a point to
Speaker 1: make the argument that mister Berry was a violent man
Speaker 1: because it was a defense case.
Speaker 2: Ultimately, none of the jurors got to hear Paul play
Speaker 2: his flute, although he did have his courtroom performance.
Speaker 1: I decided that that was of utterly no relevance to
Speaker 1: the jury, but the attorney insisted that he played the
Speaker 1: flute for the record. So at the end of the
Speaker 1: trial day one day, I excuse the jury sent them
Speaker 1: home and then had him play the flute. And I
Speaker 1: will tell you he's a very He was really good.
Speaker 1: He was really good.
Speaker 2: Relatives of Rick and Debbie were furious that Paul was
Speaker 2: allowed to play the flute. It probably felt really inconsequential
Speaker 2: and performative, so they got up and walked out of
Speaker 2: the courtroom. Meanwhile, Paul supporters sat and listened.
Speaker 6: The environment was pence and the tension was palpable.
Speaker 2: Assistant District Attorney Billi stee out.
Speaker 6: The families of Rick Berry and Wi Rehorr were there
Speaker 6: throughout and they were living through the nightmare. And on
Speaker 6: the other side were the people that were there to
Speaker 6: support stave in Geord because they believed in him.
Speaker 2: During closing arguments, prosecutors admitted they didn't know the exact
Speaker 2: reason why Paul Stavinord killed Debi rehor and Rick Berry,
Speaker 2: but they were certain he did it.
Speaker 6: He just decided that he was going to take things,
Speaker 6: not just from Rick Berry's cabin, but take his wife,
Speaker 6: take his life, and take everything he had.
Speaker 2: After two long months, it was up to the jurists
Speaker 2: to decide who the real Paul Stavinord was.
Speaker 6: Well, you're always nervous because you have to prove a
Speaker 6: case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Speaker 2: And keep in mind, the jury never heard about Paul
Speaker 2: Stavignort's previous crimes, including his nineteen seventy one bank heist.
Speaker 6: They weren't familiar with the fact that he was a
Speaker 6: bank robber, that he had had the violent passed.
Speaker 2: Three days passed before the jury handed Judge Eric Smith
Speaker 2: their verdict.
Speaker 1: Mister Stavangord was convicted of murdering the first degree for
Speaker 1: killing mister Berry, and murder in the first degree for
Speaker 1: killing this reehorror.
Speaker 2: The jury found Paul Stavinord guilty on the two biggest charges,
Speaker 2: but acquitted him of sexual assault. One of the jurors
Speaker 2: told a local reporter that he found Paul Stavignord to
Speaker 2: be evasive and unbelievable on the stand. On his sentencing day,
Speaker 2: Paul Stavignord had the opportunity to address the court.
Speaker 1: It was called the Right of elocution, and I was
Speaker 1: very curious what his allocution was going to be. So
Speaker 1: when I asked him if he wanted to say anything,
Speaker 1: he said, and I believe this is all. He said,
Speaker 1: You have convicted an innocent man. I kind of expected,
Speaker 1: given the nature of the tragedy, that he would have
Speaker 1: shown some remorse or some sorrow or some recognition about
Speaker 1: what an awful thing that had happened. And he didn't.
Speaker 1: And I sentenced him to ninety nine years on each count.
Speaker 1: And then I made those sentences consecutive.
Speaker 2: The judge wanted to make sure Paul Savignard would never
Speaker 2: experience freedom again. Even ninety nine years concurrently would make
Speaker 2: that true. But Judge Smith wanted to make a point.
Speaker 6: I don't think there was any other appropriate.
Speaker 2: Sentence, Assistant Da Billistell.
Speaker 6: I think there was a foregone conclusion that you would
Speaker 6: get the maximum sentence on each count because it was
Speaker 6: it was just malice, a forethought. I believe Judge Smith
Speaker 6: in his remarks, made him very clear that they all
Speaker 6: suffered and that the sentence should reflect that.
Speaker 2: But this case didn't end there.
Speaker 5: In my opinion, this is a travesty.
Speaker 2: Of justice that suppost friend Keith Beja.
Speaker 5: I read somewhere that the initial vote the jury was
Speaker 5: nine to three, so there were some of the jurors
Speaker 5: who weren't convinced that first degree murderer was the appropriate charge.
Speaker 2: A local newspaper report backed up that story, but ultimately
Speaker 2: the jury voted unanimously to convict Paul. However, the case
Speaker 2: had a new development about the murder weapon, which could
Speaker 2: change everything.
Speaker 5: Well after the trial and the conviction, Paul went to
Speaker 5: the judge with the allegation that he had used a rifle,
Speaker 5: not a pistol, to return fire. The prosecution focused on
Speaker 5: this Jennings pistol, which incidentally is a low quality pistol,
Speaker 5: as the murder weapon. Paul had told him he had
Speaker 5: a rifle that day, the Marlin rifle. That was the
Speaker 5: weapon that he returned fire with, not that junk pistol.
Speaker 5: But the attorneys chose to have Paul testify that he
Speaker 5: used the Jennings pistol, and he did against his better judgment.
Speaker 2: In other words, Paul claimed he used a rifle to
Speaker 2: shoot and kill Rick Berry, but as lawyer said, he
Speaker 2: used a pistol. So which weapon was the murder weapon?
Speaker 5: His attorneys, you know, gave him bad advice about testifying about.
Speaker 2: His use of a pistol, making things even more confusing.
Speaker 2: During the trial, the prosecutors argued the murder weapon still
Speaker 2: had not been found.
Speaker 5: None of that made any sense to me.
Speaker 2: After his conviction, Paul Stavenord's attorney asked to withdraw from
Speaker 2: the case. They cited a total breakdown in their attorney
Speaker 2: client relationship. Then Paul petitioned the court for hearing where
Speaker 2: he would tell the court where to find the rifle.
Speaker 5: And he drew a diagram of where the rifle could
Speaker 5: be recovered, and the diagram was given to the troopers.
Speaker 5: The troopers went there and did recover the rifle.
Speaker 2: All of that turned the case upside down and led
Speaker 2: to more hearings.
Speaker 1: After mister Stavangard was convicted, he made a claim that
Speaker 1: he had been ineffectively assisted by his attorneys.
Speaker 2: Judge Eric Smith listened as Paul attacked his defense team.
Speaker 1: But simply mister Stavangard requested a new trial because he
Speaker 1: argued that his attorneys made him lie. I had an
Speaker 1: extended evidentiary hearing to determine whether, in fact, the attorneys
Speaker 1: had provided an effective assistance of Council.
Speaker 2: Two years after Paul Stavignord was convicted, the two defense
Speaker 2: attorneys who originally represented Paul stood in front of Judge Smith.
Speaker 2: They defended themselves against allegations that they ignored evidence and
Speaker 2: forced Paul to lie on the stand. His former lawyers
Speaker 2: fought back and told Judge Smith they weren't the problem.
Speaker 2: It was Paul's persistent dishonesty, and Paul's new lawyer wanted
Speaker 2: a do over.
Speaker 1: They filed a motion for new trial, arguing that his
Speaker 1: attorneys had convinced him to make this story up, and
Speaker 1: I denied that motion. I found that his attorneys had
Speaker 1: done a fully adequate job. He had highly competent attorneys
Speaker 1: at all stages, as both the two they representative initially
Speaker 1: and then the Public Defender Agency when they took it over.
Speaker 2: But still Judge Smith said his decision was a close call. Today,
Speaker 2: Paul Stavignard remains in prison, and all these years later,
Speaker 2: people still wonder what really happened over Memorial Day nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety seven. Was Paul Stavigard a cold blooded murderer or
Speaker 2: did the finding of that rifle mean an entirely different
Speaker 2: story had unfolded in the Woods. Here's Paul's friend, Keith Beha.
Speaker 5: That appeal was denied, and that's the end of it.
Speaker 5: What's happened has happened, and you know that can't be changed.
Speaker 5: Paul's a friend, has been a friend, still is a friend.
Speaker 5: I'd like to see him released, and if somehow that
Speaker 5: could happen, I'd do everything I could to help him
Speaker 5: get situated in a positive situation.
Speaker 2: Here's author Robin Bearfield.
Speaker 3: Paul Stavinard is probably what people think of when they
Speaker 3: think of a loner living in the Alaska wilderness. I
Speaker 3: think it was a case of Paul Stavignord probably spending
Speaker 3: too much time in the wilderness with his own thoughts,
Speaker 3: and I think it was just a matter of him snapping.
Speaker 3: And this would not be the first time or the
Speaker 3: last time in Alaska that a loner snapped and started
Speaker 3: killing people.
Speaker 2: Next time on American Homicide, we'll share one of those
Speaker 2: stories of a loner who terrorized another tiny Alaskan town.
Speaker 2: I'm slow Glass joined me as we head to Manly
Speaker 2: Hot Springs for the case of Michael Silka. That's next
Speaker 2: time on American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide
Speaker 2: Team by emailing us at American Homicide Pod at gmail
Speaker 2: dot com. That's American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: American Homicide is hosted and written by me Sloane Glass
Speaker 2: and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of
Speaker 2: Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show
Speaker 2: is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Gans. The
Speaker 2: series is also written and produced by Todd Gans, with
Speaker 2: additional writing by Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate
Speaker 2: producer is Kristin Melcurrie. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry
Speaker 2: and Jessica Crimecheck. Audio editing, mixing and mastering by Nico Auruka.
Speaker 2: American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of
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