After just four hours of deliberation, a Kotzebue jury found Kiana's Teddy Kyle Smith guilty on all counts, including two counts of first-degree attempted murder, stemming from the September 2012 shooting of two brothers.
The trial, which took place in Kotzebue Superior Court over six days from Nov. 17 to Nov. 25, was the result of the 2012 incident in which Smith eluded authorities for days and shot two hunters on the Squirrel River. Smith is currently awaiting sentencing at Kotzebue Regional Jail, which is slated for the end of April 2015.
"The issue in the case wasn't what happened," said District Attorney John Earthman on Monday. "The issue in the case was why did he do it. Did he do all this intentionally or was something else going on?"
According to court documents, Smith was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder in the first degree, two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree robbery. Additionally the jury returned a guilty verdict on three counts of third-degree assault stemming from the altercation in Kiana on Sept. 7, 2012, that lead to Smith hiding from authorities.
Troopers contacted Smith back in 2012 as part of an investigation into the death of Smith's mother, Dolly, which at the time they deemed suspicious. Troopers said in November there was no evidence indicating foul play in the death of Dolly.
When authorities tried to contact Smith about the death of his mother, he discharged a firearm at a crowd outside the residence and fled, according to a trooper report.
The search for Smith continued for nearly two weeks until, in the early morning hours of Sept. 19, 2012, troopers got a call notifying them that two men -- Paul and Charles Buckel -- who had been floating down the Squirrel River on a hunting trip and had stopped at a cabin the evening before, were shot.
When they arrived at the cabin, they found Smith already occupying the dwelling and, after some time, an altercation occurred and the two hunters were both shot. Smith then stole the victims' inflatable boat and hunting equipment, and began floating downriver.
Troopers responded at daylight and transported both victims, who were suffering from gunshot wounds, to Kiana where a waiting medevac flight took them to Kotzebue and Anchorage.
Backup, including more troopers and members of the Northern Special Emergency Reaction Team, were flown to Kiana where they used planes and boats to stage a blockade for Smith who eventually surrendered without incident.
When Smith took the stand to testify in November, Earthman said he gave an explanation for how he got into the situation.
"His story was basically that he was … being influenced by forces beyond his control," Earthman said. "He discussed voices and different things that he saw in his travels out there. He didn't assert that he was rational, but he did provide an explanation."
During the preparation in the two years between the incident and the trial, a motion was raised by the defense questioning Smith's competency, but it was determined that he was fit enough to stand trial.
"We would have liked to have gotten to it sooner, but there was a lot at stake and really, there still is," Earthman said of the delay. "The Buckels certainly had to be patient and I certainly told them that I appreciated that they were. It is a long term process."
The Buckel brothers also took the stand and explained that they showed up at the cabin and Smith offered help at first and invited them in.
"At some point, they needed to make a phone call and they had a (satellite) phone for that purpose (but) it was gone," Earthman said.
When one of the brothers went up into a loft to look for the phone, the other had his back turned to Smith.
"That's when, according to them, Smith produced a revolver and started yelling at them," Earthman said.
Shots followed the altercation and resulted in Charles getting shot in the chest and Paul in the shoulder, according to court documents.
While both men have mostly physically recovered from their injuries, there are still obviously lingering effects.
"But in the scheme of things (they were) lucky to survive this; that's probably the overwhelming result of this whole thing," Earthman said. "This easily could have been a double murder case."
This story first appeared in The Arctic Sounder and is republished here with permission.