KODIAK, Alaska — A man accused of killing two men at the Coast Guard station on Kodiak Island wants to be released from custody as he awaits trial.
James Wells is scheduled to appear in federal court in Anchorage on Monday.
Wells, 61, is proposing a release plan that includes 24-hour home detention with electronic monitoring in the home of third-party custodians, who live in Kodiak and have known Wells for 20 years, according to the Kodiak Daily Mirror. The proposal also calls for an additional third-party custodian in Kodiak who is living in Wells’ home, as well as a $200,000 property bond secured by the equity in his home.
Wells is charged with murder in the fatal shootings of Coast Guardsmen Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Petty Officer Richard Belisle in April 2012. He is set to go on trial in federal court in February 2014.
Another Coast Guard member found the victims shortly after the two would have arrived for work at the station, which monitors radio traffic from ships and planes. Their bodies were found in the rigger building, where antennas are repaired.
The Kodiak Island Coast Guard base is home to cutters, helicopters and rescue swimmers that aid mariners in the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean.
After the killings, FBI agents immediately flew to Kodiak Island from Anchorage, about 250 miles away, to investigate the case as a double homicide.
Few details were released in the weeks after the deaths, although authorities said shortly after the murders that there was no credible evidence that the community was in danger.
Wells’ arrest in February came after “an extensive investigation” led by the FBI and the Coast Guard Investigative Service, with support from the Alaska State Troopers.
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