Tapes of shooter shown, victim testifies on Friday in assault trial

At least one more day of testimony in the case of a Juneau man who contends that shooting a drinking friend in the face was self-defense.

Video of police investigators trying to question Kenneth Nalan were shown to the jury in the case on Friday. Nalan is seen and heard wailing “Please God, please, I hope he lives,” later saying he “just shot a man” and then saying later that “he didn’t take the gun. He instead grabbed it and pulled it around.”

Nalan is on trial for injuring John Duran last December in his bedroom on Glacierwood Drive. It was Nalan’s own .357 Magnum that was fired, but who really had control of the weapon and how it went off is still unclear. Apparent shock-induced gaps in memory, pot smoking, and extreme intoxication by either Nalan, Duran, or witness John Day have done little to clarify what happened that night.

After a playing a recorded conversation that Duran had with investigators days after shooting about the amount of beer he drank, he answers questions posed by defense attorney Eric Hedland under cross-examination.

He later said he didn’t remember seeing a gun or grabbing a gun.

Duran said during testimony Friday that he was playing with one of Nalan’s guitars when the bedroom door opened, ostensibly from Nalan returning from a bathroom in the hallway. That’s the last instant that he remembered before he got shot. But Duran’s own description of which way he was facing in the bedroom – his left side facing the door and the hallway – conflicts with where the slug was found and his own testimony earlier about how he was injured. He said the bullet entered under his left eye and exited under his right eye. The slug was reported found lodged in the wall next to the bedroom door. That’s the wrong direction if Duran intends to imply through his testimony was that he was shot by Nalan entering the bedroom from the hallway.

Final testimony is expected on Monday. Then possibly closing arguments before the case goes to the jury as soon as Tuesday.

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