Jurors say Mielke should not have entered church

Anchorage Daily News ^

[skeptoid]

Jurors say Mielke should not have entered church TRIAL: But pastor had a right to check on chapel, arm himself, they say.

By S.J. KOMARNITSKY and ZAZ HOLLANDER Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 29, 2003)

The Big Lake pastor who shot and killed two men he caught burglarizing his chapel before dawn on an April morning should never have gone into the church in the first place, said three of the jurors who deliberated on the case.

But those same jurors also said that the Rev. Phillip Mielke had a legal right to check on the chapel -- and deserved to be acquitted on criminal charges that could have brought up to 20 years in prison.

A fourth juror said she felt the preacher was innocent from day one.

A day after a Palmer jury acquitted Mielke on four counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, several jurors reached by phone Tuesday shared some of the details of their otherwise secret deliberations.

Seven women and five men deliberated all day Friday and half of Monday before reaching a verdict.

Two jurors reached Tuesday declined to comment.

But three others -- women who agreed to speak only if their names were not used -- said they had serious questions about the pastor's decision to go into the Big Lake Community Chapel the morning of April 24 after hearing noises through an intercom system linked between the church and his bedroom. When Mielke got there, he found and shot Francis Jones, 23, and Christopher Palmer, 31.

The women said they wouldn't have gone into the church that morning, and likely would have called the Alaska State Troopers, especially after spotting a car idling in the church parking lot, as Mielke did.

But the 44-year-old pastor had a legal right to check on his building, they said. He also had the right to arm himself with a .44 caliber handgun because he had applied for and received a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

"He shouldn't have gone over there with a gun, but legally he's entitled to do those things," said one of the jurors.

Another said she considered Mielke the security guard for the chapel and said his decision to carry a gun with him was simply prudent.

"I just go back to the seat belt thing," she said. "You put it on because there might be a wreck but that's the last thing you think is really going to happen."

[skeptoid]

Here's the last post with addresses for previous posts:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1009749/posts

[Arkie2]

The pistol packing padre had a .44? Praise the lord and pass the ammunition!

[Chewbacca]

Didn't Alaska just pass a law allowing any Alaskan to legally carry a concealed weapon?
Sort of like the Vermont law.
Why would the paster apply for a CCW?
Did he apply for it before that law went into affect.

[Taipei Personality]

Alaska passed "Vermont-style" carry in addition to their CCW permit. Some people still apply for the CCW, as it allows them to bypass the NICS check when purchasing guns. He may have also had the permit prior to the change in the law, as the change was not long ago.