Robert Dean Kowalski is supposed to stand trial on August 12th for the death of girlfriend Sandra Perry at a Yakutat lodge in July 1996. But that trial may not be held as scheduled.
Prosecutor James Fayette said during a brief hearing in Juneau Superior Court on Thursday that he notified Kowalski’s attorney about a batch of original evidence that his paralegal had just discovered. They include autopsy photos from the original case, an original witness list, weapons analysis from the crime lab, and the handwritten notes from the original Alaska State Trooper investigator.
That evidence has just been forwarded to Kowalski’s public defender, but — in light of the recent discovery dump just before trial — Fayette proposed moving the trial back at least several more months. He said that a victim in the case did not have any objections.
Juneau Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez will likely set a new trial date on Friday afternoon. Kowalski did not appear in court on Thursday, whether in person or telephonically. He was apparently still being held somewhere in an Anchorage facility despite an order by Judge Menendez to transport him to Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau.
