Judge rejects defense request in Diego Joe murder case

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – About 20 family members of Diego Joe, including his mother and the mother of his child, attended a bail hearing in an Anchorage courtroom Tuesday, the latest hearing in the murder case of Kaleb Bourdukofsky, who is accused of shooting Joe in downtown Anchorage earlier this summer.

Bourdukofsky, who appeared on the phone with his lawyer, said nothing but confirmed that he was on the phone.

After hearing arguments from both the plaintiff (State of Alaska) and the defendant, Judge Jack McKenna sided with the defense and denied the motion to allow Bourdukofsky to drop off and pick up his son from school.

McKenna confirmed that the 22-year-old, who is linked to the fatal shooting of Joe this summer, is already under the “least restrictive” conditions after posting bail.

Bourdukofsky is under house arrest and his parents are acting as his third-party administrators.

“For the crime that Kaleb Bourdukofsky is currently charged with, there is extremely compelling and irrefutable evidence that he did, in fact, murder a father – a father who had a right to raise his son and send him to school,” said Joe's mother, Wendy Williamson.

Video evidence from the crime scene is expected to be presented in the murder trial of Joe, who died early on the morning of June 1.

“Kaleb Bourdukofsky fired continuously into a crowd of defenseless people,” Williamson said. “He did so intentionally. He murdered one, wounded another, and harmed many more, all of whom deserve the protection of this court.”

Charging documents state: “Officers received reports of shots fired and then observed a man with a gun running through a parking lot on 3rd Avenue between G and H Streets.”

“The officers gave the man orders and he ran away with a weapon clearly visible in his hand,” said then-APD Chief Designate Bianca Cross. “As the officers approached Third and G, they fired their weapons, striking the adult male multiple times.”

Cross continued to describe this use of force as a matter of public safety.

A hearing of evidence is scheduled for the end of next month.

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