A 12-person jury picks up this morning where they left off Friday afternoon in the Hoonah civil trial. Seven women and five men deliberated in a wrongful death lawsuit for about an hour before heading home for the weekend.
“I plead the Fifth, yes,” said convicted murderer John N. Marvin Jr.
Marvin took the stand as the last witness for the defense on Friday and declined to answer any questions. Marvin invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because his criminal case is currently on appeal.
Public defender Eric Hedland, who represented Marvin during his criminal trial in late 2012, also stood by to advise him during his requested testimony in the civil case.
Marvin was convicted for the Aug. 28, 2010, murders of Hoonah officers Matthew Tokuoka and Tony Wallace on Hoonah’s Front Street. He was later sentenced to serve 198 years in prison.
City of Hoonah attorney Frank Koziol wanted to ask Marvin a series of questions related to the Hoonah shooting.
“Mr. Martin, do you intend to invoke your Fifth Amendment right and right against self-incrimination pursuant to the Alaska Constitution?” asked Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez after the jury was called in.
“I do,” answered Marvin.
Tokuoka’s widow, Haley Tokuoka-Yearout, alleges that Wallace’s lack of training and his actions immediately preceding the incident provoked Marvin into shooting both officers.
Attorneys for Tokuoka-Yearout and the defense attorneys for the City of Hoonah later presented their closing arguments to the jury.
Closing arguments by Mark Choate, attorney for Tokuoka-Yearout, lasted well over an hour.
“This case is about a man caught in a terrible situation, making a decision to risk and sacrifice his life so his family could escape and so his friend might be able to be saved,” Choate argued.
Frank Koziol, attorney for the City of Hoonah, spent nearly the same amount of time making his case before the jury. He focused on Haley Tokuoka-Yearout’s credibility with her apparently changing memories about what happened during the night of the shooting.
“She testified that she never looked at John Marvin’s house after the first shot rang out,” Koziol said. “She was just concerned with getting out of there with her family. That seems reasonable testimony. But then she acknowledged that in the criminal case she testified that she’s pretty sure she saw a gun barrel sticking out of John Marvin’s window. Pretty sure.”
Jurors selected a foreman and went home after about an hour.
Plaintiffs are seeking several million dollars in damages. But, before the jury even considers possible damages, they must consider a tree of conditions laid out in a special verdict form.
First, they must determine if the death of Tokuoka arose out of his employment as a police officer. Then they must determine if Wallace shining his flashlight at Marvin’s house was an investigative act. If the jury’s answer to those questions is yes and the jury does not consider Wallace’s actions negligent, then the jurors are done; Tokuoka-Yearout loses and the City of Hoonah wins. Unlike a criminal case in which there must be unanimous agreement, only 10 of 12 jurors need to agree on any of the questions in this case.
Otherwise, the jury must proceed to determine if Wallace’s negligence was a significant factor in causing harm to the Tokuoka family, and whether it caused Haley Tokuoka-Yearout to suffer emotional distress. Only then would jurors consider monetary damages and allocation of fault between John N. Marvin Jr. and the City of Hoonah.
As in any case, it is impossible to predict when the jury will come back with a verdict, which will be announced in open court.
The trial started March 31.
