State won’t seek retrial in Yakutat cold case

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The state won’t seek a retrial on a first-degree murder charge for a man accused of killing his girlfriend in Yakutat in 1996.

The Juneau Empire reports (https://is.gd/u8Azno) Alaska prosecutors announced their decision Thursday. Last week, a jury convicted Robert D. Kowalski of second-degree murder in the death of Sandra M. Perry. The jury deadlocked on the more serious first-degree murder charge.

Assistant Attorney General James Fayette asked a judge on Thursday to dismiss the first-degree count.

Sentencing for the second-degree murder charge was set for July 18.

Alaska investigators at first concluded Perry’s death was accidental. The case was reopened after Kowalski was convicted of killing another girlfriend six years ago in Montana. Both women were shot in the head at close range, and Kowalski claimed both were accidents.

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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, https://www.juneauempire.com