A hearing was held and continued last Friday with Homer District Court Judge Margaret Murphy for two Homer men involved in a shooting on May 19 at Karen Hornaday Park. Reily Arambul, 20, and Sean Carpenter, 26, attended hearings telephonically from Wildwood Pretrial Facility in Kenai.
Homer Police have charged Arambul with third-degree assault with a deadly weapon, a felony. Police said Arambul fired a single shotgun slug into the door of a Jeep Cherokee, missing Carpenter, who sat in the driver’s seat.
Carpenter has been charged with first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, both felonies, and violating conditions of release. Police alleged Carpenter tried to strangle Arambul while he sat in the Jeep during what Arambul called “a bad dope deal,” according to court documents.
Police said Arambul got away from Carpenter and then went and got a shotgun from his car. When Carpenter drove up next to Arambul, police alleged that Arambul shot at Carpenter’s car door.
The shooting happened in the parking lot about 300 feet from where children played at the park playground.
Police also charged Arambul with third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, methamphetamines, both felonies, and fourth-degree weapons misconduct, firing recklessly.
That the men are alleged to be both victim and perpetrator complicated assignment of attorneys at Friday’s hearing. Attorney Defender Bill Taylor appeared on the record for Arambul. Joy Hobart appeared for Carpenter. Both work with the Public Defender’s office. Taylor raised the issue of a conflict of interest, saying the Public Defender’s office cannot defend both men. He said the Office of Public Advocacy is reviewing the cases to see which defendant would get an attorney from the Public Defender’s office and which would get an attorney working under contract with the Office of Public Advocacy.
Bail hearings were not held for either defendant.
“The only reason I’m going to stay in jail is to get sober,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter also has three other pending felony cases, including a prior charge where he was alleged to have strangled another man in a robbery. Some of those cases could be reduced to misdemeanors, Murphy noted. He already had a preliminary hearing on those charges scheduled for Friday at 3:30 p.m., so Murphy added the latest charges to that hearing. A hearing was set for Arambul at 3:30 p.m. June 10.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
