CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Sam MacDuffie In Lee v. State, 507 P.3d 483 (Alaska Ct. App. 2022), as revised on reh’g (Apr. 25, 2022), the court of appeals held that (1) a witness’s lack of memory does not make him unavailable for purposes of the Confrontation Clause, and (2) voluntary felony guilty pleas Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (2022) Joe Perry In Wright v. State, 47 F.4th 954 (9th Cir. 2022), the Ninth Circuit held that an individual may not assert a conviction predicated on a previous conviction in another state as the basis for a habeas corpus petition for the original conviction. (Id. Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Flora Lipsky In Sackett v. State, 518 P.3d 289 (Alaska Ct. App. 2022), the court of appeals held that the mere assignment of a public defense agency does not satisfy a defendant’s right to counsel. (Id. at 292). Following conviction and sentencing, criminal defendant Sackett filed a Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Supreme Court of Alaska (2022) Elza Bouhassira In Torrence v. State, Department of Corrections, 2022 WL 2093196 (Alaska 2022) (unpublished), the supreme court held that a court may dismiss an appeal if an inmate has failed to exhaust the available administrative remedies. (Id. at *1). A riot broke out at Spring Creek Correctional Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Connor Sakati In Zurlo v. State, 506 P.3d 777 (Alaska Ct. App. 2022), the Court of Appeals held that, when a prosecutor violates the duty of making a “reasonably complete and fair” presentation to a grand jury, the prosecutor then “subvert[s] the integrity” of that grand jury, so Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Scott Anderson In Mosquito v. State, 504 P.3d 918 (Alaska Ct. App. 2022), the court of appeals held that a parole compliance law only applied to compliance on or after the law took effect. (Id. at 922–23). The legislature amended the initial version of a law which Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Sam MacDuffie In Victor v. State, 516 P.3d 506 (Alaska Ct. App. 2022), the court of appeals held that the State is not required to show a criminal defendant is competent before re-instating charges which were previously dismissed without prejudice because of a finding that the defendant Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Flora Lipsky In Strong v. State, 508 P.3d 1127 (Alaska App. 2022), the court of appeals held that risk of harm to property can constitute a “significant evil” when establishing a common law defense of necessity in a criminal case. (Id. at 1132). A fishing boat with Continue Reading »
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW & CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Alex Bartlow In Gomez v. State, 516 P.3d 879 (Alaska Ct. App. 2022), the court of appeals held that (1) statements made by a victim during the initial portion of a 911 call were not testimonial in nature, so their admission at trial did Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE Court of Appeals of Alaska (2022) Rachel Reiss In Whisenhunt v. State, 504 P.3d 268 (Alaska Ct. App. 2022), the court of appeals held that its standard for remanding a case to a trial court to reconsider a criminal defendant’s motion for a new trial was not a new rule. (Id. at 270). Continue Reading »
