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 »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2024) Lauren Beizer In Drummer v. State of Alaska, 545 P.3d 452 (Alaska Ct. App. 2024), the court of appeals held that there was no self-incrimination violation at the trial court level, there was no abuse of discretion found at the trial court level, there was no error Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Supreme Court of Alaska (2024) Scott Tompetrini In Amarok v. State, 543 P.3d 259 (Alaska Ct. App. 2024), the court of appeals did not to overrule prior cases that outlined rules for remanding cases when a convicted defendant alleges ineffective assistance of counsel from their post-conviction relief attorney. (Id. at 261). Amarok was Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2024) Jack Jeffrey In Beltz v. State, 551 P.3d 583 (Alaska Ct. App. 2024), the court of appeals held that an arrestee only commits the voluntary act required for the offense of promoting contraband in a correctional facility when the arrestee knows that maintaining possession of the contraband Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Supreme Court of Alaska (2024) Rasa Kerelis In State of Alaska v. Brennan Grubb 546 P.3d 586 (Alaska 2024), the Alaska supreme court held that the parent of a sexually abused minor was owed restitution accounting for her future lost wages and retirement benefits. (Id.). After Brennan Grubb sexually abused a minor, the Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2024) Holly Merrill In Burns v. State, 543 P.3d 1013 (Alaska Ct. App. 2024), the court of appeals held that AS 17.38, which legalized the personal use of marijuana and operation of licensed marijuana businesses, did not implicitly repeal AS 11.71.190(b). (Id. at 1018–19). The earlier law declared Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Supreme Court of Alaska (2024) Caitlyn Leary In State v. McKelvey, 544 P.3d 632 (Alaska 2024), the Supreme Court held that law enforcement may not take photos of a person’s property with a high-power zoom lens from an airplane without a warrant. (Id. at 636). McKelvey lived in a sparsely populated area north Continue Reading »
CRIMINAL LAW Court of Appeals of Alaska (2023) Olivia Wagner In R.B. v. State, 533 P.3d 542 (Alaska Ct. App. 2023), the court of appeals held that (1) mandatory commitment of an incompetent felony defendant to the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API) does not violate due process under either the United States or the Alaska Constitution, Continue Reading »
