13 results for 'court:"Alaska Court Of Appeals"'.
J. Wollenberg finds the superior court properly determined that Alaska courts are not constitutionally required to instruct grand juries that they have discretion to decline to enforce the law in a particular case. No case law supports the notion that “the constitution requires the superior court to affirmatively instruct the grand jurors that they have this power—particularly where the grand jury instructions do not expressly foreclose the exercise of this kind of discretion.” Affirmed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wollenberg, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: A-11759, Categories: Jury Instructions
J. Terrell finds that defendant was properly convicted and sentenced for assault. Although the trial court may have errored in allowing the victim to testify that defendant had strangled her on 10 prior occasions, the error was harmless because the jury acquitted defendant of both strangulation-specific offenses. Also, seven text messages were properly admitted as evidence because they were relevant. However,
the presentence report inaccurately describes defendant’s criminal conduct and must be fixed. Affirmed in part.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Terrell, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: A-13627, Categories: Sentencing, Assault, Witnesses
J. Harbison finds a 2014 ballot initiative to tax and regulate the sale of marijuana did not repeal both the statute that classifies marijuana as a controlled substance and the statute for first-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. “The prosecutor, not the superior court, makes charging decisions, 62 and the legislature, not the court, determines the sentencing range that may be imposed once a defendant is convicted of an offense.” Affirmed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harbison, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: A-13793, Categories: Drug Offender
J. Terrell finds the superior court erred in awarding restitution for conduct for which an individual was acquitted in a Medicaid fraud case. “The fraudulent billings for day habilitation services did not render [defendant] legally accountable for the fraudulent billings for residential supported-living services.” Reversed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Terrell, Filed On: December 29, 2023, Case #: A-13714, Categories: Fraud, Restitution
J. Harbison finds the superior court erred by giving the wrong jury instruction for defendant, convicted of violating a protective order. “The court’s error deprived Hughes of a meaningful opportunity to present his defense.” Reversed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harbison, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: A-13683, Categories: Jury Instructions
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J. Harbison finds the district court erred by ruling that defendant's first case had no bearing on whether he could be committed in the second fugitive case involving the state of Washington. “Any commitment to await the issuance and service of a governor’s warrant is limited to a single period of up to ninety days…and includes both incarceration and release on bail or bond. After such a commitment has ended, a fugitive may not be again arrested for the same out-of-state conduct, except upon the service of a governor’s warrant.”
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harbison, Filed On: October 13, 2023, Case #: A-13900, Categories: Extradition
J. Wollenberg finds that the superior court erred by convicting defendant of two counts of witness tampering. The grand jury indicted defendant for a single act of witness tampering against one witness under two different theories. Defendant's conviction for witness tampering related to a different witness constitutes "a fatal variance from the indictment." Defendant's conviction related to that witness is reversed. Reversed in part.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wollenberg, Filed On: September 22, 2023, Case #: A-13680, Categories: Prosecutorial Misconduct, Domestic Violence, Witnesses
J. Harbison finds the trial court properly restricted the parole eligibility of defendant, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and assault for killing his girlfriend and then shooting a gun at two village police officers. “The restriction on [defendant's] parole eligibility is not clearly mistaken.” Affirmed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harbison, Filed On: September 15, 2023, Case #: A-13871, Categories: Murder, Parole, Assault
J. Wollenberg finds a trial court may not toll the “speedy trial clock” over defendant’s objection. “Alaska Criminal Rule 45(d)(2) requires the consent of both defense counsel and the defendant in order to exclude from the speedy trial calculation the period of delay attributable to a defense request for a continuance.”
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wollenberg, Filed On: May 19, 2023, Case #: A-13508, Categories: Speedy Trial
J. Harbison finds the trial court erred in instructing the jury on eyewitness identification but that the error was harmless. “The verdict was not appreciably affected by the omission of the additional information from the court’s instruction.” Affirmed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harbison, Filed On: May 19, 2023, Case #: A-13728, Categories: Assault, Jury Instructions
J. Allard finds the superior court erred in sentencing a fourteen-year-old girl who, together with her 19-year-old boyfriend, forced her way into a residence at gunpoint and killed all three occupants to a composite term of 135 years to serve. “The Alaska Constitution requires a sentencing court to consider a juvenile offender’s youth and its attendant characteristics before sentencing a juvenile tried as an adult to the functional equivalent of life without parole.” Reversed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Allard, Filed On: May 12, 2023, Case #: A-11802 , Categories: Juvenile Law, Murder