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Trial opens in 2013 death of Homer man

Published 9:30 pm Sunday, November 10, 2019

By Brian Mazurek

Michael Armstrong / Homer News Lee John Henry is brought into the Homer courtroom for his arraignment Oct. 17, 2016, in Homer. Henry is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2013 death of Mark Matthew in Homer.
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Michael Armstrong / Homer News

Lee John Henry is brought into the Homer courtroom for his arraignment Oct. 17, 2016, in Homer. Henry is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2013 death of Mark Matthew in Homer.

Michael Armstrong / Homer News Lee John Henry is brought into the Homer courtroom for his arraignment Oct. 17, 2016, in Homer. Henry is charged with first-degree murder in the July 2013 death of Mark Matthew in Homer.
Lee John Henry attends his arraignment on first-degree murder in the Homer Courtroom on Oct. 17, 2016, in Homer, Alaska. Homer Police arrested Henry in the death of Mark Matthews, then 61, killed off the Poopdeck Trail on July 28, 2013. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Mark Matthews in 2013.

Editor’s note: The story has been changed to correct the first name of public defender Joy Hobart.

A Homer man charged with murder three years ago will have his day in court this Tuesday in the Homer Courthouse.

The trial for Lee John Henry, 58, will begin Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. in Homer, with jury selection beginning Wednesday. Kenai Superior Court Judge Lance Joanis will be presiding over the case.

Henry was indicted by a grand jury in October of 2016 on one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, one count of manslaughter and one count of first-degree murder. The charges are in relation to the death of Mark Matthews, 61, in 2013 near the Poopdeck Trail in Homer. Matthews was found with injuries to the left side of his head and his pockets turned inside out.

During a trial call on Thursday, Public Defender Joy Hobart and District Attorney Scot Leaders had a disagreement over the use of DNA analysis in the trial. Henry was not present in the courthouse Thursday but was listening in telephonically.

Hobart had filed a motion earlier that morning requesting to dismiss the results of a DNA test from 2015.

Joanis said that the motion filed by Hobart and issues regarding the DNA testing would be addressed at trial Tuesday.

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