An Anchorage jury on Friday acquitted Bret Maness of murder and manslaughter in the shooting death of a neighbor during a confrontation outside his Spenard apartment last year.
The Superior Court jury, after four days of deliberations, also acquitted the 33-year-old defendant of several counts of misconduct involving drugs. But it found Maness guilty of misconduct involving weapons and two drug charges.
Maness, dressed in a plaid green shirt and green slacks and wearing his hair in a long, wavy ponytail, sat upright between his lawyers and listened calmly as Judge Milton Souter recited the jury’s verdict. Maness’ wife, Tina, sitting behind him to the left, broke into soft sobs.
During the six-week trial, the prosecution argued that Maness provoked next-door neighbor Delbert White by shooting a pellet gun at his house on the morning of Nov. 21, 1997.
When White, 32, came over to complain, Maness fatally shot him, assistant district attorney Eric Aarseth said. Maness was paranoid about having his marijuana-grow operation discovered, the prosecution said.
Within his apartment, Maness had 66 mature marijuana plants and a small arsenal of strategically placed weapons, according to police.
Maness’ attorney, Donna McCready, said Maness shot White in self-defense after White angrily attacked him.
Maness and Maness’ downstairs neighbor, Paul Hackett, grappled with White in Maness’ driveway at 3804 Lois Drive before Maness shot White in the head with an assault rifle, according to both sides.
The jury thought the prosecution never made its case, one jury member said.
″We read the letter of the law,″ John Brown of Anchorage said afterward. ″The state had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Maness didn’t act in self-defense.″
Brown said he believed that other people in the house with White had forced him to go out and confront Maness.
″It was a very bad situation,″ Brown, 49, said. ″Mr. Delbert White didn’t deserve to die. He was set up in the situation.″
Aarseth declined to speculate on the jury’s thinking.
″This was a self-defense case, and in any self-defense case the jury represents the community and asks what level of force was justifiable,″ Aarseth said. ″If we can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the force was not justified, the jury acquits.″
Souter reduced Maness’ bail to $7,500. He has been in jail since he turned himself in to police the day of the shooting.
Sentencing was set for Feb. 19. Maness faces up to 20 years on the weapons and drug convictions, Aarseth said.
McCready said she expects a shorter sentence.
Hackett, who pleaded no contest to drug charges stemming from the same case, was sentenced a week ago to 41/2 years of probation. Police found more than 200 marijuana plants in his home, they said.