Houston Homicide 2005
Dear Mr. Rhyshrek,
Why did you pee at the Crime Scene? Do you pee elsewhere in public? Public Urination? Is that against the law? Why didn't you pee at the station? Where did you throw the shell casings? Did you pee first or after you threw the casings?Who gave you the boxes? Who asked you to get the boxes? Did you agree to withhold evidence from the DA and Defence attorneys? Why did you lie to Sgt Massie about getting out of the car? Did you lie under oath in Court? What time did you arrive at the murder scene on the 8th? Did Investigator Wallner ask you not to go to the scene 1/2 mile from the Parks highway? Did you go to the scene with Kat Peterson anyway? Did you walk out of the Murder scene on the 8th alone or with Kat Peterson? Did you take the railroad trail or the scene trail?
ON May 13th did you say "we found enough of these" and throw the shell casings in the woods? When did the DA find out about the complaints and private investigation about the City's assistance in the theft of Wes Sults Truck? When did the DA tell the Defence lawyers that they already knew about the complaints about HPD? When did the DA find out about the complaints about Rhyshek and his shody police work? Did you discuss the visit with Roger Purcell to the murder scene with the Mayor EVER? Did the Mayor discuss the tossing of shells at a 5 day old murder scene? Did you tell The City Council that you helped with the Murder Investigation?
When did Mayor Dale Adams know??? It was reported to him in Jan 06.. What did he do to investigate the report? Rhyshek says he never talked to the mayor about it. How could the mayor investigate and not even talk to the Officer accused of tampering with evidence?
Dear Mr. Mayor,
There is no Chief of Police in Houston Alaska. There needs to be a Chief of Police. All of our code (Houston Code For Police Department )concerning HPD depends on getting a chief of police to monitor the department and deal with discipline and budgets. Please dont think we are being rude when we ask you to step down as mayor. The job description has changed drastically since you took over. Please take this opportunity to retire from office and let someone else try the job. Without proper staffing of the Department it will never work. You have received many complaints including some very serious complaints involving theft of trucks, theft of a four wheeler. tampering with evidence at a murder scene<it is our belief that you hid evidence about this complaint from the AST and The DA, it is a very serious mistake to ignore evidence in a murder investigation as unfounded without proper reporting to "the appropriate authorities", violating civil rights, trespassing, Lack of Search Warrants. Some of these complaints are a year old. The community needs to know they are safe. Many of us fear the Houston Police Department, but I guess until you are faced with a cop taking your possesssions or pointing the gun at you, you dont understand the fear. We need to be able to trust our cops. We don't have that trust and as mayor it was your job to ensure that trust. Please resign and let someone else have your seat on the council with the experience and knowlege to staff and supervise the HPD in a way that will bring back that trust.
Page guilty of kidnap, murder
VERDICT: He has been convicted in the slaying of Terrell Houngues.
By ANDREW WELLNER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 23, 2007
Last Modified: February 23, 2007 at 02:29 AM
PALMER -- Mario Page sat stoically, head newly shaven, as Superior Court Judge Eric Smith on Thursday afternoon announced the jury's verdict: guilty of murder and kidnapping.
Testimony and arguments in Page's trial wrapped up a week earlier. He is one of four people from Anchorage charged in the May 8, 2005, shooting death of Terrell Houngues, 23, of Anchorage.
He was originally charged with first-degree murder, but the jury saw fit to convict him of a lesser count of second-degree murder. All told, Page, 22, faces up to 198 years in prison.
Smith set sentencing for June 8.
The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated four full days. Wednesday they sent Smith a note saying they were deadlocked. Smith told them to go back and try again.
As the day drew to a close Thursday, lawyers on both sides were still awaiting a call from Smith's staff. And at 4:30 p.m., as court was about to adjourn for the day, that call came.
Both Page's attorney Scott Sterling and assistant district attorney Steve Wallace declined to comment on the record. Wallace cited ethical rules since he is also the prosecutor assigned to Page's three co-defendants who have yet to stand trial.
As for Sterling, "there's a lot to think about here," was all he said.
Wallace argued at trial that Page and his girlfriend Kira Gray, 18, of Anchorage, conspired to bring Houngues to the Houston ATV trial. Once there, Gray shot Houngues in the legs and, on Page's order, "babe, just shut him up," fired multiple shots into his head, Wallace said in court.
Page was angry with Houngues and seeking retribution, Wallace argued. He believed Houngues had stolen nine ounces of cocaine from him.
Sterling argued it was ridiculous that Page would order the killing since Houngues was the only one who could get his money and drugs back. He said his client is innocent and all the state presented at trial was an excellent case against Gray, whom he described as willful, stubborn and motivated to kill Houngues.
Gray was angry, Sterling said, over domestic abuse she believed Houngues had visited on her sister, with whom he'd fathered two children.
Gray is set to stand trial March 12. A third accomplice, Tommie Patterson, is set to stand trial Monday. A fourth, Fredrick Johnson, was the state's key witness in the case and has agreed to plead no contest to one charge of evidence tampering in exchange for no more than five years in prison. He is set to formally plead no contest April 20.
Contact Daily News reporter Andrew Wellner at awellner@adn.com or 352-6710
Houston murder trial to proceed December 17, 2006
Frontiersman staff
PALMER -After six days of hearings about the possibility of tainted evidence in a three-defendant murder case, a Palmer Superior Court judge ruled the evidence clean, but two testimonies doubtful.
The main issue concerned whether John Rhyshek, Houston police chief, threw empty shell casings that might have been left behind at a 5-day-old murder scene into the woods on May 13, 2005, as he showed the area to Roger Purcell, of Houston, who was riding along with Rhyshek.
“After listening to their testimony, neither one was credible,” Judge Eric Smith said. “It would be very difficult to resolve based only on their body language and testimony.”
But the court heard from other sources during the hearings on Dec. 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12, before he handed down a ruling Dec. 13. The state called two troopers, one flown in from Dillingham, three trooper investigators, one retired trooper investigator and three crime-lab technicians, said Steve Wallace, assistant district attorney, who flew in from his Kodiak office.
The body of Terell Hounges, 23, of Anchorage, was found May 8, 2005, a half-mile down a trail off the Parks Highway, opposite King Arthur Court in Houston. Alaska State Troopers investigated and later arrested one woman and three men for shooting Hounges. One of the men accepted a plea agreement with the state. The other three defendants are scheduled for separate trials.
The defense filed a motion to dismiss the murder and kidnapping indictments against the three defendants based on Purcell's allegation.
Rhyshek testified he allowed Purcell to ride along because Purcell expressed interest in joining the police department, and Rhyshek thought it would be a good way to get to know Purcell.
Houston Police Department had no written policies at the time, and he didn't object when Purcell wore a “wannabe” uniform and was armed, Rhyshek said, and he didn't have Purcell sign a liability waiver.
With Purcell as a passenger, Ryshek drove his patrol car down the trail, spent about “five minutes or less” giving Purcell a “brief synopsis” of the murder scene and stepped into the woods to relieve himself, he said. Ryshek didn't tell his supervisor, Mayor Dale Adams, he brought an armed civilian to a murder scene, but said he does “ride-alongs all the time.”
“I took his word he worked in law enforcement at Fort Richardson,” Rhyshek said. “Basically, I went out there because he was commenting on the occurrence. It was mundane to me.”
Eleven months later, on April 21, Purcell called troopers to say that during that ride-along, Rhyshek picked up some empty brass casings from the scene and threw them in the woods, according to testimony from Sgt. Mike Burkmire. On April 25, he, investigator Leonard Wallner and Purcell, went back to the scene, Burkmire said.
“He talked about two or three shell casings, and said he saw it all taking place between a birch and spruce,” he said.
When asked to describe the shell casings, Purcell's answers varied, from larger than a 9 mm to smaller than a .44 caliber, to at least a .380, then in the area of a 10 mm or .40 caliber, Burkmire said.
“He did say definitely not a .22,” Burkmire said. “He described it as fresh, bright and clean in the tire track. He said the vehicle drove through and squished it to the top of the mud.”
Although Rhyshek was never part of the official investigation, the murder took place in his jurisdiction and he was at the scene for a time during the initial investigation, specifically to try and identify the body, the judge said. That made Rhyshek an agent of the state, according to the court's ruling. Judge Smith said part of the reason he made that ruling was to “make sure police don't do these things.”
Judge Smith said, there was no prejudice against the defense and cited his specific findings.
“Mr. Purcell's actions were inconsistent with serious allegations,” Judge Smith said. “Anyone would have told troopers or a supervisor. Mr. Purcell said he didn't call the defense team, but if not, who would?”
When Wallner and Burkmire asked Purcell, he said he was 80 to 90 percent sure of the locations, but he was 16 to 25 feet away from where the victim and casings were found the day of the murder, Judge Smith said.
“The alleged event didn't happen,” Judge Smith said. “It would have been a distinct violation if the defense found out about it long after, but it didn't happen.”
[N
Alaska digest
Author: Staff
Date: May 9, 2005
Publication: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Page: B3
HOUSTON Man's body found along trail; troopers work on identification
Alaska State Troopers are investigating the death of a man found along a trail in the Houston area Sunday as a homicide.
Greg Wilkinson, spokesman for the troopers, said a person camping in the area found the body along a four-wheeler trail, about a half-mile from Mile 56 of the Parks Highway. That person called troopers in Palmer at 9:21 a.m., and they secured the scene until investigators arrived, [Read article (fee)]
Man found dead recalled as likable, hardworking
Author: KYLE HOPKINS
Anchorage Daily News
Staff
Date: May 18, 2005
Publication: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Page: G4
Sheena Gray last saw the father of her two children on Mother's Day morning, May 10, maybe about 6:50 or 7 a.m., when he left her place in Midtown Anchorage. Gray says she doesn't know where her fiance, Terrell Lavar Houngues, was headed. "He said he had to go do something," she said.
By 9:20 a.m., a passerby had found the man's body on a four-wheeler trail near Houston. Police are investigating the death as a homicide.
One of [Read article (fee)]
"During the trial of Kira Gray, Mario Page, Tommie Patterson it was reported by Roger Purcell that he witnessed HPD officer John Rhyshek find shell casings near the scene of the alleged murder and tossed them into the woods. At an evidentiary hearing John Rhyshek has stated that all he did is go to the restroom at the site of the alleged murder and never found any casings in the area. How many times has John Rhyshek lied under oath? How many times has he taken the role of Cop, Judge, and Jury. By taking the law into his own hands when deciding on what course of action he should take?"
by Nancy Sult
Where did you pee Rhyshek? Where did you throw the shell casings? Who gave you the boxes? Did you talk to Mr Miller or just take the boxes? Who asked you to get the boxes? Who walked you out of the crime scene? Or did you walk yourself out? Or did you walk both ways with Kat Peterson? Did you agree to withhold evidence from the DA and Defence attorneys? Did you lie to Sgt Massie about getting out of the car? Did you lie about going to the scene? Did you lie under oath in Court? Did Investigator Wallner ask you not to go to the scene 1/2 mile from the Parks highway? Did you go to the scene with Kat Peterson anyway? Did you say "we found enough of these" and throw the shell casings in the woods?
|