The case of the youngest Alaska woman convicted of murder could be reexamined after a new appeals court ruling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – After murdering three Anchorage residents – a husband, a wife and the wife's sister – in 1985, Winona Fletcher was sentenced to 135 years in prison for her role in the gruesome killings.

When she was just 14 years old, she was charged in this case.

After a new Judgment of the Court of Appealshe has the opportunity to have her case re-examined.

Last year, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled that courts must consider the fundamental difference between juveniles and adults when sentencing juvenile defendants.

On August 9 of this year, the Court of Appeal concluded that this decision should be applied retroactively and therefore also apply to previous offenders, including Fletcher.

“We agree with the Supreme Court's conclusion that the Fletcher decision should be fully applicable retroactively to those cases in which juvenile offenders were effectively sentenced to life imprisonment without parole,” the ruling states.

Fletcher and her 19-year-old boyfriend were convicted of the murders of Tom Faccio, 69, his wife Ann Faccio, 70, and Ann's sister Emelia Elliot, who was 75 at the time of her death.

With the conviction in this case, Fletcher became the youngest woman ever convicted of murder in Alaska.

Fletcher's attorney, Marcy McDannel, said the state's appeals court is following a nationwide trend toward tougher sentences for juvenile offenders that she said began at the U.S. Supreme Court. She said while Alaska is far from the front — and even lags behind — she believes the state is undoubtedly moving in the right direction.

“This decision takes into account the science that says children do not have fully developed brains and are very dependent on their environment,” McDannel said. “This has a huge impact on their behavior and that needs to be taken into account when we decide how to treat children, even when they have done something terrible.”

But Suki Miller disagrees. Miller is the executive director of Victims For Justice, which was founded in 1985 by Janice Faccio Lienhart and Sharon Faccio Nahorney, the two daughters of Tom and Ann Faccio.

Miller said that any new hearing of any kind would re-traumatize the victims and their families and make the healing process nearly impossible.

“They always talk about how maybe they've been in there for a long time,” Miller said. “Victims are dead for a long time, they're not coming back, they're not getting a second chance, they're not getting a hearing, they're gone.”

“It's really hard for the victims to go through this and hear about the various rehabilitation methods the perpetrator was able to take advantage of, while their relatives will never have that chance.”

Fletcher's re-sentencing under the new criteria is currently scheduled for December 2024.

McDannel, who said Fletcher's original sentence is now unconstitutional under Alaska law, said the state is making efforts to seek review of the appeals court's decision by the Alaska Supreme Court before re-sentencing, which could potentially delay the trial indefinitely.

She added that she hoped the courts would allow the trial to proceed so that Fletcher could benefit from the appeals court's decision.

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