CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2025) Katharine Roberts In Stoneking v. State, 567 P.3d 725 (Alaska Ct. App. 2025), the Court of Appeals of Alaska held that the Alaska Parole Board may not deny a defendant’s application for discretionary parole because it deems the defendant’s conviction a serious crime or based on the Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2025) Mike Galane In Rice v. State, 563 P.3d 132 (Alaska Ct. App. 2025), the Court of Appeals of Alaska held that the Sixth Amendment provides no exception to admit unconfronted testimonial hearsay even if the judge determines admission of the hearsay might be reasonably necessary to correct Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2025) Olivia Sontag In Marino v. State, 577 P.3d 992 (Alaska Ct. App. 2025), the Court of Appeals of Alaska held exculpatory evidence raised an issue of material fact and that a criminal defendant raising an untimely claim of newly discovered evidence of innocence must prove by clear Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Supreme Court of Alaska (2025) Katharine Roberts In Collins v. State, 568 P.3d 349 (Alaska 2025), the Supreme Court of Alaska held that the Court of Appeals of Alaska erred by retroactively applying new standards dictating whether a criminal defendant’s case can be heard by a three-judge sentencing panel, violating the separation of Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2025) Drew Loughlin In Burton-Hill v. State, 569 P.3d 1 (Alaska Ct. App. 2025), the Court of Appeals of Alaska held that the crime of riot as defined in AS 11.61.100(a) requires the common-law elements of mutual agreement by defendant and at least five other people and applies Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2025) James Blair In Burney v. State, 563 P.3d 86 (Alaska Ct. App. 2025), the Court of Appeals of Alaska held that the trial court’s determination that a jury tampering incident was not presumptively prejudicial was error, because the trial court framed the incident from the perspective of Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2025) Suleyman Amjad In Ballard v. State, 576 P.3d 686 (Alaska Ct. App. 2025), the Court of Appeals of Alaska held that signed and notarized calibration reports of a breathalyzer are admissible under the public records exception to hearsay and are self-authenticating documents. (Id. at 690–91). Ballard was Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2024) Ryan Ciemny In Summerall v. State, 553 P.3d 1255 (Alaska Ct. App. 2024), the court of appeals held that Alaska Statute § 12.55.090(c), as amended in 2019, applies to conduct, including new probation violations, that occurred on or after its effective date of July 9, 2019. (Id. Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2024) Abby Murray In Hank v. State, the court of appeals held that a trial court may accept a mandatory stipulation to element(s) of a crime, without first obtaining the defendant’s personal waiver of the right to a jury trial on the element(s), so long as: (1) the Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2024) Holly Merrill In Groom v. State, 551 P.3d 567 (Alaska Ct. App. 2024), the court of appeals held that the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial was not violated when a judge determined the amount of restitution he owed. (Id. at 574). Groom was convicted Continue Reading »
