Courts
RSSAlaska court system, rulings, filings, federal cases affecting Alaska, Alaska Court of Appeals, Alaska Supreme Court decisions, judicial retention
A Nome jury convicted a 78-year-old man on 28 counts of sexual abuse of a minor
A Nome jury convicted Isaac Ozenna Sr., 78, on 28 counts of sexual abuse of a minor involving nine children abused in Nome between 1984 and 2014.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Fairbanks would spend $1.2 million more to defend the pipeline's value in court
Fairbanks would pour another $1.2 million into defending the pipeline's assessed value in court — a decades-old fight over a tax base that funds its schools.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Supreme Court lets Trump's mail-voting order advance, but Alaska's rules are unchanged for now
The Supreme Court let Trump's mail-voting order advance but didn't rule it legal. Alaska's voting is unchanged for now; a separate order blocks the key piece.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
Judge vacates 490-acre Izembek land swap, reopening the fight over the King Cove road
A judge voided the land deal behind the King Cove road, reopening a decades-old fight. Crews stage construction as the court weighs a halt by Aug. 31.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago4 min read
Palmer jury convicts Robert Hawes on four felony sex abuse counts
A Palmer jury convicted Robert Hawes, 72, on four felony sex abuse counts involving a 4-year-old child in 2021. He faces sentencing November 25.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
A Kenai man is sentenced to 60 years for sexually assaulting a child in his home
A Kenai man, Darold Greg Love, 67, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child living in his home, with no eligibility for parole.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
An Anchorage man will serve 30 years for sexually abusing children he babysat
An Anchorage man will serve 30 years in prison for sexually abusing multiple children under 13 whom he babysat, and must register as a sex offender for life.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Anchorage jury finds man guilty but mentally ill in 2015 stabbing of his parents
A jury found Martin Victor IV guilty but mentally ill in the 2015 stabbing of both his parents. He cannot be paroled until treatment is complete.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Bethel man will serve 60 years for sexually abusing a child left in his care
A Bethel man, Matt Atcherian, 27, will serve 60 years in prison for sexually abusing a child under 13 who had been left in his care.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Judge asked to rule by Aug. 31 on whether King Cove road work can begin
A judge has been asked to rule by Aug. 31 on whether King Cove road work can start. The state says construction will not begin before Sept. 1.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Judge vacates Izembek land exchange for King Cove road
A federal judge vacated the land exchange behind the King Cove road through the Izembek refuge, reopening one of Alaska's longest fights on primary day.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Valdez lost its fight not to be lumped in with Mat-Su. All that's left is an $11,000 bill.
Valdez lost its fight not to be grouped with Mat-Su in one House district. All that's left is an $11,000 cost bill it's appealing to the state Supreme Court.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Judicial council urges no vote on two Kenai judges in November
Alaska Judicial Council recommends voters reject two Kenai judges on November ballot. • Judge Kelly Lawson failed temperament and integrity standards; lacked patience with court staff. • Judge Martin Fallon failed integrity and diligence standards; signed false affidavits about late decisions.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Court says a tribe can't sue its health consortium in state court
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Dot Lake Village can't sue the Tanana Chiefs Conference in state court — the health consortium has tribal sovereign immunity.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
The Alaska Supreme Court sent a 14-year Willow property fight back to Palmer, with the trail's path still undecided
The Alaska Supreme Court wiped out the judgment mapping an access trail around a Willow home and sent the 14-year fight back to Palmer, with the trail's path still undecided.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Fairbanks blood-draw arrest raises a question about the evidence-tampering charge
A Fairbanks driver fought a court-ordered blood draw and was charged with evidence tampering — but a 2000 Alaska Supreme Court ruling raises a real question about whether that charge holds.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
A murder conviction is reversed because a suspect's question about a lawyer wasn't enough for police to stop
Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that police must stop and ask for clarification when a suspect hints at wanting a lawyer, a stronger protection than federal law requires.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
When a custody case is filed in both tribal and state court, whoever filed first wins, Alaska Supreme Court rules
Filed in both tribal and state court, a custody case goes to whoever filed first, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled — here decided by an eleven-day gap.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska Supreme Court shields Nome hospital's staff housing from tax
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Nome can't tax a Norton Sound Health building housing doctors and nurses, calling the staff housing vital to the hospital.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska Supreme Court says legislative immunity shields ethics committee from Reinbold suit
Alaska Supreme Court ruled legislative immunity shields the ethics committee from lawsuits over disciplining legislators, ending former Sen. Lora Reinbold's four-year fight for a public hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
A retiring Arctic judge's cases are in limbo, with no one scheduling hearings
A retiring Arctic judge's caseload has been moved to an unassigned docket with no one scheduling hearings, and the court hasn't said how the region's cases proceed.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Court upholds detention for teen who killed another boy, even at low risk
An Alaska court says a judge can detain a teen for a serious crime even when a psychologist calls him low risk. The case: a boy who killed another teen.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Retiring judge's Arctic caseload lands in an unassigned court queue
A retiring Arctic judge's entire caseload but eight cases now sits in an unassigned queue, with no new judge named and no word on hearing dates across three hub communities.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
Alaska Supreme Court: divorce splits must account for who pays the taxes
The Alaska Supreme Court upheld most of a divorce judgment but sent back one question: who pays the capital gains taxes — because that changes the real split.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
A sleep clinic said it isn't medicine. The court disagreed.
The IRS says Alaska Sleep Clinic isn't a health business. The Alaska Supreme Court says it is — and the state's answer is the one on the tax bill.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Senate confirms Westercamp to trade court; both Alaska senators vote yes
Both Alaska senators voted to put a White House lawyer on the court that hears tariff challenges — a court that matters a lot in a state shipping 70% of its fish abroad.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska courts require TrueFiling for CINA cases starting August 17
Alaska courts require all lawyers to file Child in Need of Aid cases through TrueFiling starting August 17, replacing email and fax. Training dates have not been announced.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Supreme Court to hear Alaska bush pilot's fight over $95,000 plane seized for a six-pack
Supreme Court will hear whether Alaska can seize a bush pilot's $95,000 plane because a passenger carried beer to a dry village.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska Supreme Court: parent who stays active guardian keeps custody when disabled adult child lives in assisted care
Alaska Supreme Court ruled a parent who actively serves as guardian keeps custody of a disabled adult child in assisted care, even if the child lives elsewhere.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska Supreme Court rules Sleep Clinic owes back taxes, not a small business
Alaska Supreme Court ruled the Sleep Clinic owes back taxes for 2016 through 2018 because it performs health services, not a qualifying small business.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska Supreme Court affirms termination of Native mother's parental rights over domestic violence
Alaska Supreme Court upheld termination of an Alaska Native mother's parental rights, ruling that four years of case-plan work did not address the domestic violence that endangered her disabled son.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read
Alaska senators cast deciding votes to advance trade court nominee, 49-48
Alaska senators advanced a Trump trade-court nominee whose rulings could affect seafood exporters and the $90 million CDQ program supporting fishing communities.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read
He overturned his termination but still lost his daughter
An Alaska dad proved the state wrongly terminated his rights — but still lost his daughter for good, because he missed a one-year deadline to challenge her adoption.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
As federal wetland protections recede, Anchorage rewrites its own rules
After the Supreme Court pulled federal protection off more than half the nation's wetlands, their fate now falls to states and cities — and no state has more wetlands than Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Sitka wades into an unsettled frontier of environmental law
Sitka may sue over PFAS, 1,4-dioxane and microplastics in its water — and the microplastics part is a legal frontier no other Alaska town appears to have tested.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
The state made a plea deal, then broke it. A court just said no.
A Point Hope man gets resentenced after a fill-in prosecutor argued for the max instead of honoring his plea deal — the appeals court ruled the state is bound by its own bargains.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
The state must bridge the language gap before ending parental rights, court says
Alaska's high court says the state must accommodate non-English-speaking parents before terminating their rights — a new protection rooted in the state's 20-plus Native languages.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
A man is taking on Alaska's housing authority alone, and lost round one
A self-represented man sued Alaska's public housing authority under the Fair Housing Act. A judge denied his emergency-relief bid but fast-tracked the case, which continues.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Alaska's high court reversed a decision to end a Native mother's parental rights — over how the state made its case
The Alaska Supreme Court reversed a Native mother's parental-rights termination, finding the state's ICWA cultural testimony too vague to meet the law's high bar.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Alaska appeals court identifies DUI jury instruction tension in Homer case
Alaska's appeals court upheld a Homer man's DUI conviction but flagged a gap in jury instructions that could reshape how DUI cases are tried statewide when defendants claim they drank after driving.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read