Appeals court reverses murder conviction in 2012 stabbing at Anchorage hotel

An Alaska appeals court has reversed the conviction of a man found guilty of murder in a 2012 stabbing at a downtown Anchorage hotel.

The three-judge panel found that one of the prosecuting attorneys in the trial of Jackie Russell Adams, convicted of second-degree murder, made an “improper” suggestion to jurors during closing arguments that may have swayed the deliberations, according to the opinion the court handed down Friday.

Adams, now 57, had been drinking with a number of other people at the Inlet Inn at Sixth Avenue and H Street when the killing happened. When one of those people, Andrew Wilson, spit on the carpet, Adams escorted him out of the room and locked him in the hallway.

Adams went back into the hallway twice and fought with Wilson after Wilson kicked on the door. During the second fight, Adams stabbed Wilson in the stomach with a steak knife.

Wilson later died from the wound. At Adams’ trial, his defense argued he had acted in self-defense.

Adams was convicted in December 2012 and is serving his sentence at Goose Creek Correctional Center at Point MacKenzie, where he was scheduled to be released in 2032.

In the closing arguments, one of the prosecuting attorneys suggested that if the jurors returned an erroneous verdict, the judiciary would correct the mistake, according to the opinion.

The remark was a response to a comment made by Adams’ defense attorney, who suggested that jurors should equate the idea of “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” to the kind of proof that might convince them to withdraw a loved one from live support. The appeals court found this comment “improper” as well.

In response, the prosecutor told the jury that the verdict it returned was “not permanent and irrevocable,” like a life-support decision might be, and might be reversed if Adams appealed — which he did.

The belief that someone other than the jury “bore the ultimate responsibility of doing justice in Adams’s case” may have interfered with the jurors’ decision-making process, the court found.

"One obvious implication of the prosecutor’s remarks was that the jurors did not need to worry too much about reaching the proper verdict, because the judiciary would correct,” Chief Judge David Mannheimer wrote in the opinion.

Although each remark drew an objection from the opposing attorney, the trial judge did not intervene in either case except to remind the jury to disregard any comments that “misstated law," according to the opinion.

The appeals court took issue with that decision, saying the judge never clarified whether either comment actually misstated the law.

The court also found that the trial judge incorrectly instructed the jury on how the law applied to self-defense during a burglary, and will need to revisit the instruction if Adams is retried.

Adams was still in custody at Goose Creek Correctional Center as of Friday afternoon, according to a public inmate database.