00                       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 30                                                                     
01 Relating to the case of the United States v. Wade and to the decision of the Attorney                                   
02 General of the United States with respect to that case.                                                                 
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS, in 1999, Joshua Wade was arrested three times for minor crimes; and                                    
05       WHEREAS, in 2000, Joshua Wade was charged with felony robbery, rape, and                                        
06 burglary and was eventually convicted of a weapons charge and served roughly five months                                
07 in jail; and                                                                                                            
08       WHEREAS, on September 2, 2000, Della Brown was found murdered in Anchorage;                                   
09 and                                                                                                                     
10       WHEREAS, on September 30, 2000, Joshua Wade was charged with her murder and                                   
11 jailed until trial; and                                                                                                 
12       WHEREAS, in early 2003, Mr. Wade went on trial for the murder of Ms. Brown,                                   
13 robbery, and other charges; and                                                                                         
14       WHEREAS, on April 16, 2003, Mr. Wade was acquitted by a jury on all charges                                   
15 except tampering with evidence; and                                                                                     
16       WHEREAS, on September 4, 2003, Mr. Wade was sentenced to five years for                                       
01 evidence tampering plus 18 months for violating parole on an earlier weapons conviction; and                            
02       WHEREAS, on December 18, 2004, Mr. Wade was released from prison; and                                         
03       WHEREAS, on August 3, 2007, Mindy Schloss disappeared from her home in                                        
04 Anchorage; and                                                                                                          
05       WHEREAS Mr. Wade used Ms. Schloss's ATM card numerous times during the                                          
06 week following her disappearance; and                                                                                   
07       WHEREAS Ms. Schloss was found murdered a month later; and                                                       
08       WHEREAS a federal grand jury charged Mr. Wade with Ms. Schloss' murder in                                       
09 April 2008; and                                                                                                         
10       WHEREAS, in the indictment, the United States Attorney for the District of Alaska                             
11 asserted that Mr. Wade committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel, and depraved                              
12 manner; and                                                                                                             
13       WHEREAS the United States Department of Justice has created a capital case review                               
14 procedure to assist the United States Attorney General in making decisions on whether to seek                           
15 the death penalty; and                                                                                                  
16       WHEREAS the capital case review procedure requires each United States Attorney to                               
17 submit for review all cases involving a pending charge of an offense for which the death                                
18 penalty is a legally authorized sanction, regardless of whether or not that United States                               
19 Attorney recommends seeking the death penalty; and                                                                      
20       WHEREAS, during the capital case review, a review committee makes a                                           
21 recommendation to the United States Attorney General as to whether the death penalty should                             
22 be sought in a case; and                                                                                                
23       WHEREAS the United States Attorney General makes a final decision as to whether                                 
24 a capital sentence should be sought in a case; and                                                                      
25       WHEREAS there is no death penalty under Alaska law;                                                             
26       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                        
27 Attorney General to consider all the evidence and, if justified by the evidence, carefully                              
28 consider the death penalty as a sentencing option for Joshua Wade.                                                      
29       A COPY of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney                          
30 General of the United States.