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Victim's mother sues pastor who shot him
BIG LAKE: Mielke knew he wasn't threatened by burglars, lawyer says.
By ZAZ HOLLANDER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 15th, 2005
Last Modified: April 15th, 2005 at 04:47 AM
The Rev. Phillip Mielke shot Chris Palmer and Frank Jones outside the Big Lake Community Chapel two years ago as the pair burglarized a food bank in the church basement.
Palmer, a 31-year-old father of three boys who battled drug and alcohol addiction, died in a ditch near the church.
Jones, a 23-year-old with a checkered past, bled to death on a friend's mattress several hours later.
A jury later in 2003 found Mielke not guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Now Jones' mother wants to bring the 46-year-old Mielke back to court to face a wrongful death lawsuit her attorney filed in Palmer Superior Court.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday on behalf of Nevada resident Bonnie Pigott, charges that Mielke breached his duty to use "reasonable care in the firing of the handgun." It asks for more than $100,000 in damages, plus fees.
Pigott, who goes by the first name Rachael, could not be reached Thursday.
Her attorney, Eric Jensen of Wasilla, explained why she filed the suit.
"Her boy was shot in the back by a guy who knew he was shooting at somebody's back and was not threatened in any way at any time," Jensen said.
Mielke, contacted at the church Thursday, said he had no comment and would not identify his attorney.
The pastor shot Palmer in the lower back just after 5 a.m. April 24, 2003, as Palmer emerged from the basement of the church, a trim red building on Big Lake Road with a small but loyal local congregation.
Firing through a church window, Mielke then shot Jones in the back and heel as he fled to his car, parked nearby. Jones drove to Palmer's girlfriend's house on a back road a few miles away. He died there about four hours later.
Mielke told Alaska State Troopers that he rushed to the church with his .44-caliber handgun after hearing the men on an intercom wired to his home across the road. Standing at the top of the stairs in the dark with the men coming up at him, Mielke said, he was "scared to death."
Investigators later said they found folding knives in both men's pockets and a loaded .357 magnum in the basement.
The distinctly Alaska case -- a pistol-packing pastor avenging the burglary of his church -- generated significant local interest.
Many, including the jurors, backed Mielke's decision to protect his territory, a church founded by his family.
It also resonated among some Christians, who wondered whether Mielke violated larger biblical prohibition on murder and teachings on turning the other cheek.
Pigott came to Alaska in mid-May 2003 after the shootings, she said during an interview two years ago. She met Palmer's girlfriend -- June Benedix -- at the Wasilla Wal-Mart. She visited the church. She saw the mattress at Benedix's Big Lake home, "nothing more than a shack," Pigott said.
"When he got there, he didn't want her to leave," she said. "He begged her to stay there and lay by him because he knew he was going to die. She went to find a phone, called against his wishes. By the time they got there, he was dead."
Jones had several earlier arrests on his record, including 2001 assault and kidnapping charges dismissed the next year after he pleaded no contest, according to a database of state records.
Pigott acknowledged that the man she called "Sonny" who loved her lasagna was no saint. But, she said, her son didn't deserve to die the way he did.
A relative of Palmer's said the family has no plans to file a lawsuit.
Mielke has 20 days to respond to Pigott's suit.
Two years ago, the Palmer district attorney's office had to prove the pastor's guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt." Here, Jensen said, he simply has to prove guilt by a "preponderance of the evidence."
Any trial is still a year off, he said.
Reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached in Wasilla at [email protected] or at 1-907-352-6711.
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Victim's mother sues pastor who shot him
BIG LAKE: Mielke knew he wasn't threatened by burglars, lawyer says.
By ZAZ HOLLANDER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 15th, 2005
Last Modified: April 15th, 2005 at 04:47 AM
The Rev. Phillip Mielke shot Chris Palmer and Frank Jones outside the Big Lake Community Chapel two years ago as the pair burglarized a food bank in the church basement.
Palmer, a 31-year-old father of three boys who battled drug and alcohol addiction, died in a ditch near the church.
Jones, a 23-year-old with a checkered past, bled to death on a friend's mattress several hours later.
A jury later in 2003 found Mielke not guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Now Jones' mother wants to bring the 46-year-old Mielke back to court to face a wrongful death lawsuit her attorney filed in Palmer Superior Court.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday on behalf of Nevada resident Bonnie Pigott, charges that Mielke breached his duty to use "reasonable care in the firing of the handgun." It asks for more than $100,000 in damages, plus fees.
Pigott, who goes by the first name Rachael, could not be reached Thursday.
Her attorney, Eric Jensen of Wasilla, explained why she filed the suit.
"Her boy was shot in the back by a guy who knew he was shooting at somebody's back and was not threatened in any way at any time," Jensen said.
Mielke, contacted at the church Thursday, said he had no comment and would not identify his attorney.
The pastor shot Palmer in the lower back just after 5 a.m. April 24, 2003, as Palmer emerged from the basement of the church, a trim red building on Big Lake Road with a small but loyal local congregation.
Firing through a church window, Mielke then shot Jones in the back and heel as he fled to his car, parked nearby. Jones drove to Palmer's girlfriend's house on a back road a few miles away. He died there about four hours later.
Mielke told Alaska State Troopers that he rushed to the church with his .44-caliber handgun after hearing the men on an intercom wired to his home across the road. Standing at the top of the stairs in the dark with the men coming up at him, Mielke said, he was "scared to death."
Investigators later said they found folding knives in both men's pockets and a loaded .357 magnum in the basement.
The distinctly Alaska case -- a pistol-packing pastor avenging the burglary of his church -- generated significant local interest.
Many, including the jurors, backed Mielke's decision to protect his territory, a church founded by his family.
It also resonated among some Christians, who wondered whether Mielke violated larger biblical prohibition on murder and teachings on turning the other cheek.
Pigott came to Alaska in mid-May 2003 after the shootings, she said during an interview two years ago. She met Palmer's girlfriend -- June Benedix -- at the Wasilla Wal-Mart. She visited the church. She saw the mattress at Benedix's Big Lake home, "nothing more than a shack," Pigott said.
"When he got there, he didn't want her to leave," she said. "He begged her to stay there and lay by him because he knew he was going to die. She went to find a phone, called against his wishes. By the time they got there, he was dead."
Jones had several earlier arrests on his record, including 2001 assault and kidnapping charges dismissed the next year after he pleaded no contest, according to a database of state records.
Pigott acknowledged that the man she called "Sonny" who loved her lasagna was no saint. But, she said, her son didn't deserve to die the way he did.
A relative of Palmer's said the family has no plans to file a lawsuit.
Mielke has 20 days to respond to Pigott's suit.
Two years ago, the Palmer district attorney's office had to prove the pastor's guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt." Here, Jensen said, he simply has to prove guilt by a "preponderance of the evidence."
Any trial is still a year off, he said.
Reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached in Wasilla at [email protected] or at 1-907-352-6711.
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