GUILTY AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*

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Don't know IF this is still a "go" for today - I have to wait for @PayrollNerd to let me know... but I'll post it anyway - just in case it is. I'll leave the court case # in my notes below for you PayrollNerd! :)


Monday, January 3rd:
*Trial set to begin (@ 8:30am AKST) – AK – Sophie Sergie (20) (April 26, 1993, Fairbanks) - *Steven Harris Downs (18 @ time of crime/44/now 46) arrested (in Auburn, Maine), charged (2/15/19), indicted (3/14/19) & arraigned (8/6/19 & 8/14/19) with 1st degree intentional murder & 1st degree sexual assault. Plead not guilty. Held without bond, changed to $1M (8/6/19). Bond changed (8/16/19) to $550K. 4th Judicial District #4FA-19-00504CR
DNA GEDMatch/Parabon Nanolabs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)). The Downs case may be the first real test of the limits of DNA forensics in criminal prosecutions — that this case may even reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trial set to begin on 1/3/22. (will last about 7 weeks).
Court information from 2/19/19 thru 12/16/21 reference post #156 here:
AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*
12/20/21 Update: Next trial set to begin on 1/3/22.
 
The courthouse PIO tells me that the trial has been postponed until Thursday 1/6 (also reflected in the docket). It WILL be live streamed - accessible from courts.alaska.gov website.
 
Thursday, January 6th:
*Trial set to begin (@ 8:30am AKST) – AK – Sophie Sergie (20) (April 26, 1993, Fairbanks) - *Steven Harris Downs (18 @ time of crime/44/now 46) arrested (in Auburn, Maine), charged (2/15/19), indicted (3/14/19) & arraigned (8/6/19 & 8/14/19) with 1st degree intentional murder & 1st degree sexual assault. Plead not guilty. Held without bond, changed to $1M (8/6/19). Bond changed (8/16/19) to $550K.
DNA GEDMatch/Parabon Nanolabs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)). The Downs case may be the first real test of the limits of DNA forensics in criminal prosecutions — that this case may even reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trial was set to begin on 1/3/22 was continued to 1/6/22. (will last about 7 weeks).
Court information from 2/19/19 thru 12/16/21 reference post #156 here:
AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*
12/20/21 Update: Next trial set to begin on 1/3/22. 1/3/22 Update: Trial postponed until 1/6/22.
 
Ah - found an article where you don't have to sign up. Looks like motions are being heard.

Sophie Sergie Murder Case Proceeds

snipped...
Judge Temple will hear more motions today (Wednesday). Downs is charged with murder in the first degree and sexual assault in the first degree. If his case is not dismissed, he is scheduled for trial in Fairbanks on March 8.
 
https://www.webcenterfairbanks.com/...in-sophie-sergie-murder-testifies-in-hearing/

Jan. 6, 2022

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Attorneys wrapped up a week of evidentiary hearings in the murder case against Steven Downs. On the final day of hearings regarding motions filed by the defense, defense attorney Jim Howaniac called Jim McCann to the stand to testify on his investigation into the murder.

McCann was the lead investigator for the Alaska State Troopers in Fairbanks when Sergie was found murdered in a bathtub at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. McCann, who according to his testimony has investigated at least 78 murders in the state, said that the Sergie murder was the only one he never got a conviction in and that it haunts him to this day.

Many of the questions from the defense focused on a letter that McCann had apparently written to the FBI at the time of the investigation in which he complained about some of the conditions of the investigation. During his testimony in front of Judge Thomas Temple he said that he had requested additional help from the troopers to help secure the scene and interview students in the dorm that may have had information. McCann said he was denied additional help.
[.....]
Prosecutor Jenna Gruenstine asked McCann during her time about interviews with Moto. McCann, who in the testimony on Friday said he does not remember Moto told the court that if he’d thought that Moto was in the bathroom on the night of the murder, or if he’d had blood on his clothing when he was contacted less than 24 hours after the murder, Moto would have been questioned far more than he was and most likely would be sitting in a yellow jump suit instead of Downs.

After McCann finished being questioned, the prosecution called Jennifer Foster, a forensic scientist for the Alaska Crime Lab to the stand to begin questioning her about DNA collection. The prosecution was unable to finish their questions before the hearing finished.

The parties to the case were unable to finish litigating the motions and have scheduled additional hearings for mid-March. We will continue our coverage as it proceeds.
 
@PayrollNerd - looks like the 1/7 & 1/10 hearings were reset (post #163). I'll check back in with you next week - and see if they have set any dates in March like the article said they would.
 
Jan 7 2022
Auburn man’s murder trial in Alaska ‘cold case’ scheduled next week - Lewiston Sun Journal
''The trial of an Auburn man charged in the sexual assault and murder of an Alaskan woman 28 years ago is expected to get underway Monday with jury selection in Fairbanks.''


Steven Downs appears in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn in March 2019 for an extradition hearing. His trial in the 1993 murder of an Alaskan woman is scheduled to begin next week. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file


Steven H. Downs, 47, is charged in the April 25, 1993, slaying of Sophie Sergie, 20, of Pitkas Point, Alaska.

Downs had been a student at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks at the time and lived in the dorm where Sergie’s body was found. Investigators said she had been visiting a friend at that dorm when her body was discovered.

Investigators said Sergie was shot in the back of the head with a .22-caliber gun, stabbed in the cheek and eye, struck with a blunt instrument, gagged with a ligature and shocked with a stun gun.''
 
Monday??!! I guess they want to move this trial along. Will be correcting my notes than.
Thank you @dotr for that news!
 
@PayrollNerd - just wondering what the court site has? Trial starting Monday?

TIA! :)
 
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