Trevor Stefano, the man who police say shot a man at a Government Hill home on Wednesday, had been released from prison in 2018, after having served time for a drug-related murder he committed in Spenard in 2006 when he was 19 years old.
Stefano has been now charged with attempted murder, first- and third-degree assault, and misconduct involving weapons in the shooting in which he used a pistol to gun down an Anchorage lawyer at his home, which also serves as the lawyer’s office. The lawyer survived but was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Stefano, born Dec. 7, 1986, is now 38. After the Department of Corrections decided he was making good progress on his rehabilitation, he was released from prison in Fairbanks after serving 12 years of a 40-year sentence (15 suspended), and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor for the rest of his sentence.
He got married and moved to Anchorage, where, in July of 2019, he was arrested for domestic violence and was found to be in contact with felons, including his brother, in violation of his ankle monitor agreement.
Read all about his first murder conviction and release at this link.
“Stefano manipulated and directed the victim to request the charge be dropped. The victim indicated that what she had told the police was true and she was fearful of him and worried that he would kill her or have her killed,” the court record shows. He later was divorced.
“Stefano appealed his termination from electronic monitoring. His appeal was denied by a probation officer, who explained that: (1) Stefano had been given permission to have only telephonic contact, not in-person contact, with his brother Connor; and (2) although the domestic violence charges were dismissed, the officer had heard Stefano’s ‘inappropriate statements to [his] wife’”’ in the recorded calls from prison,” the record shows at the detailed case description at FindLaw.com.
Stefano has additional court records with the state, some involving protective orders.
According to reports, one of the Wednesday victims in the house on Government Hill said she had dated Stefano briefly and said he was stalking her. She was grazed by one of his bullets but needed no hospitalization.
Stefano, who was stopped by a volley of police bullets, and the lawyer he is accused of shooting were both critically injured and required complex surgeries.
The criminal justice/social worker/parole system/public defender complex is seriously defective. Why is it that the party or parties responsible for the release of this guy are never identified so they can be held accountable to the public?
Was his release proposed by a public defender, counselor, correctional staffer, parole board or combination of the above? Who actually approved his release? The public should be able to find out.
This article needs more moderation than my comments. How is one 38, being born in 1968.
Typo fixed. Thanks. – sd
RELEASED FOR MURDER! SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THERE’S A CHANCE! 🤣
Born in 68 but is only 38? I was born in 72 and I thought I was 52. Someone lied to me.
Good catch. It was 86 not 68. Thanks – sd
40 years for taking the life of another?!?! And that is reduced?!?!
With Capitol punishment carried out swiftly after a speedy trial, this incident never happens, the domestic abuse never happens, etc.
“…….40 years for taking the life of another?!?! And that is reduced?!?!…….”
Reduced twice: at sentencing with 15 years suspended, then with early release from prison after just 12 years, less than half of the unsuspended 25 years.
The goal of prison shouldn’t be to “punish”, but to keep the rest of society safe from somebody who can hurt them. Society should have prison facilities, scaled from temporary to maximum security life, for at least 5% of our total population, and probably closer to 8%. Alaska’s population is 740K. Do we have 37K prison, jail, minimum security, mental health, drug/rehab, and halfway house beds?
“After the Department of Corrections decided he was making good progress on his rehabilitation, he was released from prison in Fairbanks after serving 12 years of a 40-year sentence (15 suspended), and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor for the rest of his sentence.”
For those who would like to know how the political/judicial/”corrections system works; the legislature makes the laws which get the guy sentenced. The judge follows these laws as far as s/he feels they need too. The corrections side keeps the prisoner then MUST release the prisoner according to the judges ruling. So, if the prisoner is sentenced to X amount of time, the legislature has enshrined the “good behavior” rule, plus additional time off if the prisoner completes various classes in say, anger management ect.
If you want to blame someone don’t blame corrections, we have to follow the judges rulings as s/he has interpreted from the legislature. So the one here to point the finger at are the humanists in Juneau who hire the “prosecutors”, “public defenders”, and “judges”.
We have three black robes out here right now that absolutely love criminals and give them a slap on the wrist for what, in the Lower 48, would get them serious time.
A drug killing? Should have done minimum 50-life, but Alaska will give you 35 years. Here in Bethel, premeditated, first-degree murder max 35 years, do your time plus all available classes, no disciplinary problems you’ll do 14 years, with last 3 in half-way house and out the door. Most other states you’d pull a death sentence or at least life without parole.
Jeanette, thank you for the explanation.
Your name brings to mind the late Representative Jeannette James, of Fairbanks. She brought Alaska to concealed carry, and she brought concealed carry to Alaska. It was opposed by the Commissioner of Public Safety at the time, a former Ketchikan Chief of Police, and a little later it was opposed by the Republican Speaker of the (Alaska) House, a former Anchorage Chief of Police. In opposing what he could see was going to pass that Speaker of the House stepped down from the podium, handed the gavel to an anti-2A Democrat from Juneau, and spoke at length against concealed carry and how the courts today understand the Second Amendment, saying, “This time the NRA has gone too far.” That was all about 30 years ago.
If that son-of-a-bitch, Brian Porter, is still alive and you run into him you could ask him if Alaska concealed carry – now Constitutional Carry – has caused the problems for law-abiding Alaskans he expected back then. Alaska Republicans have now consolidated in their support of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the US Supreme Court is very much aligned with that – thanks in no small part to President Trump. Alaska Democrats – not so much. If Porter is still alive he owes all Alaskans an apology, and as a general rule electing former law enforcement officers to public office is a bad idea.
So thanks to Representative Jeannette James, and thanks to Alaska Justice System screw-ups like this we all can and should carry firearms at all times. This felon could not legally own or carry (bear) a firearm but if he even knew that he did not care. Gun control only controls law-abiding citizens, and we need to carry guns because law-breakers will kill us without hesitation. Law enforcement bureaucrats, especially chiefs of police it seems, know that law enforcement cannot and will not arrive in time to protect you when a violent crime is being committed but very often those law enforcement bureaucrats would prefer the victims be unarmed. You need a gun because there is no way to know when you might be called upon to clean up a mess caused by the Alaska Justice System.
During the 2018 gubernatorial campaign then candidate Mike Dunleavy, who had resigned from the Alaska Senate in order to better run his campaign for governor, repeatedly said he would remedy the Alaska crime problem. I honestly don’t know if he has tried to do that, now six years later, and has been thwarted by the Legislature, or if he has disregarded the crime problem he once said he would fix.
If you carry a gun you should practice shooting from time to time. You can and should dry fire much more often. You should practice and preach gun safety. You should support pro-Second Amendment candidates for elected office.
Thank you for the hisotry lesson, All Alaskans, we NEED to vote out these criminal judges. Sure wished we knew who these 3 robed judges are.
Why only 12 years?
Corrections Department said he was making progress on his rehabilitation. – sd
Parole/Probation makes those calls. While incarcerated he may have had good behavior thus the statement from corrections saying he was making progress.
What sort of idiot marries a murderer and expects things to work out well?
A very desperate one.
The same sort of idiot that marries an adulterer and expects them to be faithful.
.
There is no logic or reason when it comes to love.
What sort of state justice department allows a criminal convicted of murder to become a paralegal working in the justice system?!
Stefano will probably be back on the street before his victims are out of the hospital. I
Look into the fact that Trevor Stefano became a paralegal and was linked to Alaska State Leglislative Representative Gerann Tarr. Prison Reform is a joke.
V: Thank you for that hint. Apparently representative Tarr did have some sort of professional link to Stefano thst she should explain.
‘https://x.com/RepGeranTarr/status/1595554064125038592