www.justiceforchandra.com

[gozgals]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/8958282p-8873843c.html



I can't believe the nerve of this man trying to say his 2 year old son killed his wife by accident. These guys will come up with any kind of story when they lie. Justice may be slow but at least it was served. I hope he is sentenced to the full term at his hearing.

Goz


Man convicted 10 years after murder of wife
GLENNALLEN: Derek Sawyer had blamed shooting on 2-year-old son.

By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News

Published: June 8, 2007
A Glennallen jury on Thursday found a man guilty of killing his wife 10 years ago -- a death that the convicted man had originally blamed on his 2-year-old son.

After a monthlong trial, Derek Sawyer was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting of his wife, Gretchen Sawyer.

At the time of the slaying, Derek Sawyer, then 23, told Alaska State Troopers that the couple's young son must have picked up the gun from the kitchen table and brought it into the couple's bedroom. He told investigators the gun must have gone off accidentally and killed the 20-year-old mother, according to the original charges filed by prosecutors.

Derek Sawyer said he heard the bang of the gun while he was in the shower and rushed to find his wife already dead from a gunshot to the face.

Troopers in February charged Derek Sawyer with the July 1997 shooting after cold case unit investigators re-visited the case. Investigators said there were flaws in the husband's version of events, including the absence of water on the bathroom floor when troopers arrived, something they would have expected had he jumped out of the shower to respond to the gunshot.

Derek Sawyer also told investigators that he was showering after just having had sex with his wife, but an autopsy on his wife found no evidence of that.

Blood spatters at the scene, including some inside the gun, also indicated that blood should have also been on the shooter. Troopers found no blood on the boy and said only Derek Sawyer had recently bathed.

Troopers also questioned whether a 2-year-old could pull the trigger on the .357-caliber revolver.

Derek Sawyer was unhappy with his marriage and feared Gretchen would leave with their children, the original charges said. The couple often fought, friends told troopers back in 1997.

A big source of tension was the paternity of their second child, an 8-month-old girl who was also in the home at the time of the shooting. After Gretchen Sawyer died, a paternity test proved the girl was not Derek's.

The Sawyers moved to Gakona, a community of 235 about 15 miles northeast of Glennallen, after Gretchen and Derek met in Arkansas. She disliked living in Alaska and was desperate to return home to Arkansas, court documents say.

Prosecutor Pat Gullufsen could not be reached Thursday but released this statement through the state Department of Law: "Justice delayed is better than no justice at all. It feels good to me that a jury had an opportunity to look at this and make a decision."

Superior Court Judge John Suddock scheduled Derek Sawyer's sentencing for Nov. 15. He faces up to 99 years in prison.