An attorney for the family of an Alaska couple murdered last year sent a scathing letter to U.S. Sen. Mark Begich claiming that his political ad using the couple’s case to attack Republican challenger Dan Sullivan is “inciting” the family and “tearing [it] apart.”
Bryon Collins, the family attorney, sent the letter, titled “Second Demand To Take Down All Case References And Ads,” to Begich on Monday.
“The family directly and without question has told your campaign they want no part of this,” Collins writes
in the letter, obtained by The Daily Caller.
Collins was referring to an ad first aired by Begich’s campaign on Friday.
It refers to the case of Jerry Active, now 25, who allegedly murdered Touch Chea and Sorn Sreap, two elderly Cambodian-Americans, in Anchorage on May 25, 2013. Active is also accused of sexually assaulting their 2-year-old granddaughter.
But before that, Active had been charged in 2007 and 2009 for various crimes. He pleaded guilty to a Class C felony in the 2007 case which should have triggered an eight-year minimum prison sentence for his 2009 offense, which included the attempted sexual abuse of a minor.
Begich’s ad blamed Sullivan, the former state attorney general, for Active’s light prison sentence.
The Democrat’s ad spurred a response from Sullivan who pointed out that he was not attorney general when Active committed either the 2007 or 2009 crimes. Sullivan, a former Bush administration official, was in the Marines when Active committed the 2009 offenses and only became attorney general in June 2009.
