Helmer v. State

OPINION

RABINOWITZ, Chief Justice.

This is a sentence appeal. In the early morning hours of September 4, 1977, James Helmer raped and repeatedly struck on the head with a fireplace poker a fourteen-year-old girl. The victim, a younger sister of a girl Helmer had been dating, was alone in her parents’ home at the time. The girl lost her right eye as a result of the attack.

After Helmer was found unamenable to treatment as a juvenile, jurisdiction was waived, In re J.W.H., 583 P.2d 227 (Alaska 1978), and he was tried as an adult and convicted after trial1 of rape, assault with intent to kill, and…