Shooter wants to back out of plea deal
Flathead County District Court Judge Katherine R. Curtis will rule Friday whether Robert Dean Kowalski will be allowed to back out of a plea deal that convicted him of murder of his girlfriend.
Kowalski testified during a court hearing Tuesday that his attorneys "rushed" him into a deal he began feeling "threatened" to accept immediately after he pleaded guilty by way of Alford plea to mitigated deliberate homicide in the March 2008 shooting death of 45-year-old Lorraine Kay Morin.
However, Kowalski's testimony Tuesday contradicted what he said during his Jan. 12 change-of-plea hearing. At that time Kowalski said numerous times he understood the agreement, hadn't been coerced into taking it, and was satisfied with his attorneys' representation.
"When he entered his plea he did so knowingly, voluntarily," said Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan, who is contesting Kowalski's motion to void the plea deal. "I see no reason why he should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea under those circumstances."
In the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss deliberate homicide charges and recommend Kowalski receive 50 years in Montana State Prison with 10 years suspended and no restrictions on his parole.
The plea agreement also included terms permitting Kowalski to withdraw his guilty plea and proceed to trial should Curtis impose a stiffer penalty than that outlined in the plea agreement.
Kowalski, 47, said Tuesday that defense attorneys Vicki L. Frazier and Gregory N. Hood advised him during a mid-hearing conference to just agree with everything that went on during the change-of-plea proceedings.
"That's what I was being instructed to do," he said. "They said that was my best offer."
When Curtis asked Kowalski whether that meant Frazier and Hood told him to tell the presiding judge that he was satisfied with their representation, Kowalski replied: "Yes. And I'm finding out that I'm not,"
Kowalski also testified Tuesday that he was rushed to accept a plea deal finalized the Friday before his Monday hearing, he was affected emotionally after learning about the death of a man who was "like a father" to him only 45 minutes before pleading guilty, and that Hood told him he could back out of the deal any time before his March 12 sentencing hearing.
"I didn't have ample time," Kowalski said. "I feel like I was pressured into it."
Curtis is expected to hear from Frazier and Hood before she rules on Kowalski's motion to squash the plea deal. Before the hearing continues Friday, attorneys must work out what conversations that Kowalski had with his legal counsel can be repeated without violating attorney-client privilege.
Frazier and a third attorney now involved in the case, John O. Putikka, had no comment Tuesday. Hood attended the hearing via telephone.
Prosecutors said they were willing to accept Kowalski's version of Morin's shooting only for the purpose of accepting his Alford plea to mitigated deliberate homicide.
Kowalski told investigators the gun accidentally went off as he was falling backward into a chair, Corrigan said.
But Kowalski fled and the gun used in the shooting was recovered from his home on Montana 35 after a 31-hour standoff that involved SWAT teams from three jurisdictions.
Extensive similarities between the Flathead County murder and Kowalski's 1996 shooting of another woman at an Alaska lodge has prompted cold-case prosecutors in Alaska to review their case against him.
Kowalski, who told investigators the Alaska shooting was an accident, never was charged in the killing.
The prosecutor originally assigned to the Alaska case apparently believed there was insufficient evidence to disprove Kowalski's claim that the shotgun he was holding accidentally discharged while he was walking to the window to look at a bear, authorities said.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com