Fairbanks judge sentences Julian Miranda to 30 years in 2012 sexual assaults

A Fairbanks man will serve 30 years for two 2012 sexual assaults that went unprosecuted until DNA from the victims' kits was tested years later.

Superior Court Judge Brent Bennett sentenced Julian Miranda, 36, on Sept. 17 on two counts of first-degree sexual assault, the Alaska Department of Law said. A Fairbanks jury convicted him March 4. He faced 20 to 30 years on each count. He will serve 10 years of probation and must register as a sex offender for life.

One woman met Miranda at the Mecca Bar in downtown Fairbanks on July 23, 2012. A second, unrelated victim met him outside the Drop Inn Lounge on Oct. 26, 2012. Each accepted a ride, was driven to an area outside town, assaulted and left by the road. Each flagged down a passerby who called police.

Both women underwent examinations. One kit went untested until 2015 because of DNA testing backlogs. The other was tested in 2017 under the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. The Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Lab matched both kits to a known sample from Miranda.

At trial, Miranda admitted to intercourse with both women but said the sex was consensual. Assistant Attorney General Erin McCarthy of the Office of Special Prosecutions prosecuted the case with Paralegal Wendy Malave. The department credited investigators Mike Burkmire and Andy Ballesteros.

Alaska's first statewide inventory, in 2017, found more than 3,000 previously unsubmitted and untested kits at nearly 50 law enforcement agencies. Gov. Mike Dunleavy's office announced in December 2021 that 2,442 of 2,493 kits had been tested. "We've put in place internal steps to prevent this kind of backlog from ever happening again and added resources to the State crime lab to ensure every kit is tested within 90 days or sooner," Dunleavy said. Average turnaround fell from 246 days in 2020 to 113 days in fiscal year 2024.

Alaska law still requires an annual inventory of untested kits by every agency holding them.