Judge considers defense call to end Waterman murder trial

The defense in the Rachelle Waterman murder trial says the entire case should be thrown out because prosecutors never shared information about allegations that one of the main police officers on the case lied under oath at Waterman's first trial.

While motions to dismiss cases are common in criminal trials, judges usually dispense with them fairly quickly.

But in the Waterman retrial, Superior Court Judge William Carey sent the jury home this morning to consider the defense position and to allow time to secure the personnel records of the officer under question.

The controversy concerns Craig Police Chief Mark Habib, who was a sergeant in that Southeast Alaska community in 2004 when Waterman's mother, Lauri Waterman, was murdered. Two men have pleaded guilty and are serving long prison sentences. One said Waterman told him she wanted her mother dead because of abuse.

On Friday, jurors heard from Anna Goemer, a retired police officer and former trooper who said she had known Habib for years. She's worked in Bethel and for the University of Alaska Anchorage police.

In December 2007, she ran into Habib and he told her that he had lied on the stand during portions of his testimony in Waterman's first trial, in Juneau in 2006, Goemer told jurors Friday. That trial ended with a jury split 10-2 for acquittal.

Goemer's testimony caused a stir in the courtroom. This morning, with jurors out of the room, prosecutors argued that her testimony should to be removed from the record and that the judge should tell jurors to disregard it.

Carey sided with the defense and said her testimony would remain.

But the fallout isn't over.

With jurors still out of the courtroom Monday, defense attorney Steven Wells argued that prosecutors made a fatal mistake when they failed to pass along that potentially damaging information about Habib's credibility to the defense.

Goemer e-mailed Ketchikan District Attorney Stephen West about what Habib had told her in March 2008, but he didn't do anything with it, Wells said.

Who knows what else the prosecution held back, he said.

Waterman's lawyer only got the information when Goemer contacted the defense directly a year or so ago, Wells said.

As a result, the judge should acquit Waterman or at least throw out the charges, Wells said. If charges were dismissed, prosecutors would have to decide whether to prosecute Waterman a third time.

It was unclear exactly what Goemer asserted Habib lied about. In part it related to who took pictures taken during the initial investigation of Waterman that were admitted into evidence at the first trial.

Goemer also said that Habib boasted to her that he could get a confession out of anyone. He participated in the interrogation of Waterman in which she admitted she knew of a plan to kill her mother, and didn't call authorities.

Jean Seaton, an assistant district attorney who wasn't on the case originally, told the judge West doesn't remember receiving Goemer's e-mail but that it's not that big a deal.

"The e-mail is totally ambiguous," Seaton said. "It very well should have been turned over to the defense, but it's certainly not an indictment of the officer."

Seaton also said that a review of Habib's testimony from the first trial doesn't indicate he said anything like what Goemer asserted.

At any rate, the defense didn't suffer because it got the information directly from Goemer, Seaton said.

Wells wants Goemer's testimony to stand unchallenged by the prosecution, without them being able to call Habib back to the stand to rebut her.

The defense lawyer said that one of main reasons people are wrongfully convicted is because of police or prosecutorial misconduct.

"That includes not providing evidence of innocence to the defense," Wells told the judge.

Carey said he needed time to consider the issues.

He ordered prosecutors to get Habib's personnel records from Craig today if possible for him to review.

"These issues need to be dealt with appropriately. I think I need the time, frankly, to make sure that we get it right," the judge said

Carey told the lawyers to come back to court at 3:30 p.m. today to see where things stood.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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