Two Sitkans were indicted by a grand jury this spring on assault and theft charges, and a ruling in a highly publicized civil case was appealed.
On the morning of May 20, 40-year-old Amanda Tison-Diamond called the police. She said she smelled decaying bodies and heard noises in her attic. According to a sworn police affidavit, Officer Mitchell Boord checked out the home, found nothing concerning, and asked her if she needed medical assistance, which she declined.
Later that morning, a member of Tison-Diamond’s family called police to report that she tried to stab him with a pair of gardening scissors. Officer Boord returned to the house and spoke with Tison-Diamond who allegedly confessed to threatening her family member with the scissors. While arresting Tison-Diamond, Boord found a small baggie of methamphetamine in her pocket.
Tison-Diamond was indicted by a Sitka Grand Jury on May 29 on three counts of assault.
The same grand jury on May 29, indicted another Sitkan on theft charges. On March 22 shortly before midnight, police were called to the Southeast Resort Hotel, formerly known as the Westmark Hotel. According to court documents, a hotel employee told police that, while reviewing security footage, she observed a front desk employee, 56-year-old Philip Rupell, taking a hotel guest’s wallet. Rupell was indicted on four counts of theft in the second degree.
Trials in both Rupell’s and Tison-Diamond’s cases are tentatively scheduled for August.
Also this spring, a recent ruling in a highly publicized civil case was appealed.
In 2023, Dr. Richard McGrath was criminally convicted of assaulting three women in Sitka. One of the women, Breanna Wampler (now Martin), sued McGrath and the city for damages, since at the time McGrath had worked at the city-owned Sitka Community Hospital.
McGrath’s criminal conviction was not admitted as evidence in the civil trial however, and the jury ultimately found McGrath and the city not liable for the damages. This spring, Judge Amanda Browning ordered Martin to pay over $100,000 in attorney fees to the defendants, as directed by state statutes.
The ruling prompted public outcry, and a GoFundMe for Wampler has raised over $12,000 so far. Martin and her attorney James McGowan have appealed the court’s conclusion in the case. Their appeal will be heard by the Alaska Supreme Court, a process which could take months or years to be resolved.
