On June 1, 2000, I appeared before the Alaska Board of Parole at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau, Alaska. After serving 24 years, it was my third appearance before the Board seeking discretionary parole. I have an excellent institutional history and numerous commendations and recommendations, but my parole was opposed, as it had been in the previous two hearings, by family members of the victim in the crime for which I was convicted in 1976. At this hearing, Institution Probation Officer Jeanne Fischer (Fischer) blatantly lied to the parole board, as well as allowed erroneous and inflammatory information to be presented as fact. Parole was denied - forever. After the hearing, the Department of Corrections was asked to investigate the actions of P.O. Fischer. Deputy Director of Institutions, Mr. Sam Edwards, assigned Fischer's supervisor, Superintendent Dan Carothers, to look into the matter. Not only did he fail in this obligation, but his report claimed to have verified as true the false information that had been testified to by Fischer. Dan Carothers lied, covering up Fischer's misdeeds and dereliction of duty.
As to the details... My third, and now final, parole board hearing was originally scheduled for February 29, 2000. In preparation for this hearing, in accordance with statutes, regulations, and Department of Corrections Policies and Procedures, institution Probation Officer Jeanne Fischer had investigated, prepared, and submitted a "parole packet," containing the Parole Progress Report and associated documents, to the parole board, myself, and my counsel, Juneau attorney Vance Sanders. In the Parole Progress Report, Fischer recommended that I should be granted discretionary parole.
On February 22, 2000 (one week before the scheduled hearing), Fischer wrote a memorandum to the parole board recanting her recommendation that I be granted parole. She recommended, instead, that parole be denied with finality. (Memorandum to Parole Board from Jeanne Fischer, February 22, 2000).
Fischer's memorandum was accompanied by approximately 400 pages of investigatory material that had been prepared by various law enforcement entities at the time that my case was being investigated in 1976. Fischer claimed that this material was the basis of her changed recommendation and demonstrated that I had been dishonest on my application for parole.
This investigatory material was not the complete investigatory record, but consisted of selected and redacted documents. The selected and redacted documents were not obtained from "official" sources, nor were the "facts" she presented in her memorandum to support her changed recommendation. As there are no records of document transmittals from Alaska law enforcement agencies, it is supposed that the documents, as well as the "facts," came from the family of the victim.
As had each institution Probation Officer who had prepared Parole Progress Reports for my 1991 and 1995 parole hearings, Fischer submitted letters from the family of the victim without checking the veracity of the information they contained.
Fischer's February 22, 2000, memorandum to the parole board, as well as her testimony before them on June 1, 2000, presented and attempted to validate false, erroneous, inflammatory and prejudicial information and ideas contained within the victim impact submissions and during her telephonic communications with the victim's family members. Examples of the information contained in the victim impact information include statements that infer that I am a satanically-motivated serial killer, that I splashed crosses in blood on the windshield and outer surfaces of the victim's vehicle, that I have murdered at least six persons, that I am a professional criminal, that the trial judge and District Attorney were aware of my many other crimes, even that I had fathered children while incarcerated. None of it even remotely true.
On February 28, 2000, at the request of attorney Vance Sanders, my parole hearing was postponed for approximately three months to allow for time to respond to the allegations contained in Fischer's memorandum and study of the accompanying documentation. (Letter of Vance Sanders to Larry Jones, dated February 28, 2000)
On May 18, 2000, attorney Vance Sanders responded, in writing, to Fischer's memorandum of February 22, 2000. That response demonstrated, without exception and point by point, that Fischer's allegations were not supported by the investigatory documents that she, herself, had presented to the parole board. (Letter of Vance Sanders to Larry Jones, dated May 18, 2000)
On June 1, 2000, I appeared before the parole board. During that hearing, Fischer presented in her testimony "facts" that - in addition to those already shown to be unfounded and unsupported - alleged a theory ("Fischer's Theory") of how my 1976 crime had occurred and, because her theory differed from the sparse recollections that I had provided in my parole application, therefore, demonstrated that I had been dishonest on my parole application. (Parole Hearing Transcript (TR) at pgs. 14, 27, 37 - 38)
Fischer's Theory includes speculation that the weapon used was fired from a location that defies trial testimony presented by expert witnesses. She alleged that I had been well rested and sober at the time the crime occurred - assertions disproven by the very documents she presented to the parole board.
During the parole hearing, Fischer gave testimony that she had been in contact with the prosecuting attorney in my case (Fairbanks District Attorney Harry Davis), and that District Attorney Davis had informed her that I had been making threats against his life. (TR at pgs. 38 - 39)
District Attorney Davis never told Fischer that I had made threats against his life. Fischer intentionally lied, gave false testimony, when she claimed that I had made such threats and that District Attorney Davis had informed her of those threats. (Letter of Loretta Beaver to the Alaska Board of Parole, dated July 4, 2000, pg. 1; Letter of Loretta Beaver to Lt. Governor Fran Ulmer, dated November 14, 2001, pgs. 1-2; and Affidavit of Loretta Beaver, dated March 14, 2002)
During the parole hearing, Fischer also gave testimony that she had been in contact with the lead investigator on my case (former Alaska State Trooper Roger McCoy), and that Trooper McCoy had also informed her that I had been making threats against his life. (TR at pg. 39)
As with her identical testimony that I had made threats against District Attorney Davis, this testimony was also untrue. I had not threatened Trooper McCoy, nor did Trooper McCoy inform Fischer that I had done so.
The outcome of the parole hearing was no surprise. I was denied parole and no provisions were made to ever permit me to seek parole at any time in the future. That the parole board gave credence to the false testimony given by Fischer is inarguable. In letter from the parole board to myself, dated June 6, 2000, the board stated that "the seriousness of your crime would be diminished if discretionary parole was granted" and "through its actions the Board has assured that you will pose no future risk to the public." (Letter from the Parole Board to Anthony Brown, dated June 6, 2000)
On June 19, 2000, Loretta Beaver (my mother) met with District Attorney Davis at his office in Fairbanks, Alaska. District Attorney Davis informed her that he had no knowledge of any threats made by me. (Letter of Loretta Beaver to the Alaska Board of Parole, dated July 4, 2000, pg . 1; Letter of Loretta Beaver to Lt. Governor Fran Ulmer, dated November 14, 2001, pgs. 1-2; and Affidavit of Loretta Beaver, dated March 14, 2002). If the reader has any doubt as to the truth of this fact, I invite you, as I have Assistant Attorneys General Timothy Terrell and John Bodick and Superior Court Judges Eric Sanders and Randy Olsen, to contact former Fairbanks District Attorney Harry Davis. Why they would not, and did not, I cannot say. (Letter of Anthony Brown to Assistant Attorney General Timothy Terrell, dated April 30, 2002; Letter of Anthony Brown to Assistant Attorney General John Bodick, dated February 5, 2003, at pg. 2;
On July 6, 2000, my attorney, Vance Sanders, asked the parole board to reconsider their denial of my parole. That request cited the false information provided by Fischer and noted Loretta Beaver's communication with District Attorney Davis. (Letter of Vance Sanders to Larry Jones, dated July 6, 2000)
The request for reconsideration was denied; the letter stated that "The Board members did not feel that you presented any new information that would cause them to alter their original decision." (Letter of Leitoni Tupou to Anthony Brown, dated October 7, 2000)
On January 11, 2001, my attorney asked that the Department of Corrections investigate the conduct of Jeanne Fischer, relevant to my June 1, 2000, parole board hearing. The request for investigation cited Fischer's false testimony before the parole board, Fischer's indulgence of her own subjective perceptions and theories of the original crime and their presentation to the parole board, and complained of the extensive and inappropriate contact with the family members of the crime victim. (Letter of Vance Sanders to Lynda Zaugg, Director of Community Corrections, dated January 11, 2001)
In response to the request for investigation, then Deputy Director of the Division of Institutions, Samuel Edwards, assigned Lemon Creek Correctional Center Superintendent - and Fischer's direct supervisor - Dan Carothers to investigate the matter.
On March 3, 2001, my attorney received the findings of that investigation from Deputy Director Samuel Edwards. He reported that Superintendent Carothers had "interviewed" both District Attorney Davis and former Alaska State Trooper Roger McCoy, and had found that Fischer had conducted herself and her responsibilities in a responsible manner. (Letter of Samuel Edwards to Vance Sanders, received March 3, 2001)
Superintendent Carothers obviously lied concerning his investigation, "interviews," and findings. Had Superintendent Carothers interviewed either District Attorney Davis or former Trooper McCoy, he would have been informed that I had threatened neither, nor had either informed Fischer to the contrary.
Both institutional Probation Officer Jeanne Fischer and Superintendent Dan Carothers have a fundamental and legally mandated duty to be unfailingly honest, to respect and protect the civil and legal rights of prisoners, to be diligent in recording and making available for review all case information that could contribute to sound decisions affecting prisoners. They may not falsify any document nor willfully depart from the truth in giving testimony or in connection with any official duties or official investigations (whether by commission, omission or incompleteness), and they may not knowingly enter into reports or logs any inaccurate, false or improper information, nor fail to include pertinent information. Both failed, in every aspect, to live up to their responsibilities. (13 AAC 85.2301 and Department of Corrections Policy and Procedure 202.15)
At this time, these two individuals are still tasked with the care and custody of prisoners at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau, Alaska, and the protection of all the citizens of Alaska. As demonstrated by their own actions, they are not honest, truthful, or trustworthy. But, what of their supervisors
Perhaps, it is only fair to say that Deputy Director of Institutions Samuel Edwards was deceived. Yet, on Friday, July 11, 2003, after the election of Frank Murkowski as Governor of Alaska, and the assignment of new Department of Corrections' administrators, Loretta Beaver met with Corrections' Deputy Commissioner, Don Stalworthy. When informed that institution Probation Officer Jeanne Fischer had provided false information in her testimony to the parole board, he stated: "if given a choice between believing a probation officer I know or a prosecutor I do not know, I will believe the probation officer." He also informed Ms. Beaver that she should contact the parole board as he has no control over parole. In fact, Jeanne Fischer is an employee of the Department of Corrections and is Mr. Stalworthy's subordinate. Oh yeah, previous to his appointment as Deputy Commissioner, Don Stalworthy was a probation officer at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau. He worked with Jeanne Fischer (was trained by her, if I am not mistaken) and he was supervised by Dan Carothers.