Opinion ID: 2339540
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: John's Criminal History, Alcohol Abuse, And Incarceration

Text: John has a substantial criminal history. In 1985, he was convicted of second-degree murder and received an eighteen year sentence with ten years suspended. Between August 1998 and September 2000, John was convicted of disorderly conduct, assault in the fourth degree, driving while intoxicated, and indecent exposure. In 2001, John was convicted of domestic violence assault. In 2004, John was convicted of assaulting his wife, Jane, and was also convicted of misconduct involving weapons in the fourth degree. Around the same time in 2004, John was convicted of attempted sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree and was required to register as a sex offender; he was later arrested for failing to register. In 2006, the Office of Children's Services (OCS) received reports indicating that John had physically and sexually abused his stepdaughter, Nellie, who was 14 years old at the time. [3] Nellie told OCS and the Alaska State Troopers that John had sexually abused her more than ten times, starting when she was seven years of age. Nellie also stated that she told Jane, her mother, about the abuse, but her mother did not call the police. John was subsequently convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree and sentenced to 12 years in prison, with four years suspended. John is currently serving that sentence; he is due to be released in 2014. Around the time Nellie's allegations were being investigated, OCS conducted a safety assessment of the Doe home. A social worker interviewed the children, and both Nellie and Mathilda reported that John had physically abused them by hitting them on the back. In a later, unrelated contact with OCS, Jane stated that she had been repeatedly abused by John over the years. Jane stated that, on various occasions, John had pointed a gun at her head, choked her, hit her on the head, broken her ribs, and threatened to kill her. John asserts that his trouble with the police has always been related to alcohol abuse. Many of his criminal sentences included the probationary condition that he refrain from possessing or consuming alcohol. John completed a roughly five-month-long alcohol treatment program at the Ernie Turner Center in Anchorage in 2001. John claims to have remained sober for a couple years following this treatment, but soon after completing the program, he was convicted of assault and ordered to report to the Bethel Alcohol Safety Action Program. [4] It appears that alcohol played a role in some of John's subsequent convictions as well.