The long-running criminal case against former Alaska State Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux has taken another unexpected turn with the reassignment of the trial judge, nearly five years after charges were first filed.
Judge Kevin Saxby, who oversaw the first trial that ended in a hung jury, has now been replaced by Judge Josie Garton, a liberal judge in the Anchorage Superior Court.
LeDoux, now 76, is facing a retrial on 12 charges related to alleged voter misconduct during the 2018 elections.
ormer Alaska Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux’s long-delayed election misconduct trial started in Anchorage in Nov. 18 and lasted seven days. The closing arguments were held Nov. 27, and the jury has had the long Thanksgiving weekend to deliberate. As of this writing, the date has yet been published for when the jury will be asked for its verdict in an election fraud case that was brought by the State of Alaska in 2020 and which has been delayed several times, but it is expected to be early this week.
LeDoux was accused by state prosecutors in 2020 of encouraging people who did not live in her district to vote for her in the 2018 primary and general elections.
The case continued in 2021, when an Anchorage grand jury, after hearing the evidence, indicted LeDoux, Lisa (Vaught) Simpson, and Caden Vaught on multiple counts of voter misconduct in the first degree, charges stemming from an investigation that started in 2018 after the Division of Elections identified irregularities in absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots returned for the primary election. The Alaska State Troopers, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, were involved in the two-year investigation.
These charges include five felony counts and seven misdemeanors, including accusations that she and her associates orchestrated improper voting activities in House District 15, which is an area of North Anchorage that is now mostly in District 19 after 2020’s redistricting.
The Alaska Department of Law decided to retry the case after the first trial ended in a mistrial on Dec. 2, 2024, when Anchorage jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on any one of the charges.
The case has been marked by repeated delays and complications since it began in 2020. At the heart of the allegations are claims that LeDoux and her campaign team, which included her former chief of staff Lisa Simpson manipulated voter registrations and encouraged ineligible votes during the 2018 primary and general elections.
A trial-setting conference was scheduled for Feb. 3, and there have been numerous trial-setting hearings, but a new trial date has yet to be set.
LeDoux’s defense attorney Kevin Fitzgerald is trying to convince prosecutors to drop the case entirely, arguing that it has dragged on too long and lacks merit.
However, state prosecutors are reportedly moving forward with preparations for a second trial and are addressing ongoing disputes over expert testimony.
The reassignment of the case to Judge Garton may shift the legal dynamics. Garton is known for her progressive rulings, including a recent decision allowing non-physicians to perform abortions in Alaska, a decision that stirred considerable debate.
Her involvement in the LeDoux case now gives the judicial system the appearance that it will not treat election integrity with the seriousness it deserves.
The irony is that a case centered on voter fraud has now stretched into its sixth year without resolution. Despite the severity of the original charges, which if proven could have served as a deterrent for future misconduct, the prolonged timeline may instead suggest the opposite.
For now, the case remains in limbo, with no date set and a new judge at the helm. It is yet another chapter in what has become Alaska’s most drawn-out political trial in its short history.
Tried by a jury of her peers in a reasonable time frame. Good god. Is this where our legal system has collapsed too. Not even a violent criminal deserves this time delay. I’m
By no means a fan of hers but none of the witnesses will be credible after 5 years delay. Hell whidbey can’t remember what he said 3 weeks ago.
I am familiar with judge Jody Garton. She is corrupt.
When I filed bias charges against her with the Alaska Commission on Judicial conduct a Homer Judge investigated and found Garton pure as the driven snow despite my evidence. Homer harbors such judges, you know.
Garton was appointed to my case by former presiding 3rd District Judge William Morse, less than 1-month after I published a story challenging constitutional authority of Morse and Kenai judge Jennifer Wells to protect perjured Judge Margaret Murphy by blocking a grand jury inquiry.
Judge Wells resigned her position shortly after that story. Garton refused to seriously consider any of my arguments.
Judge Garton knows what team she is playing on and is ambitious. Taking down a Republican legislator could give Garton another notch in her lawfare bat.
Watch what she does despite any contrasting evidence. She is corrupt.
‘https://donnliston.net/2022/07/kenai-court-corruption/
Well, if LeDoux were a (D)em, the case would have been dropped and never would have gone to trial. She needs to go to jail. And so does any (D)em that commits election fraud.
If she is guilty, the last five years of stress is enough already! The CCP directed Democrat operatives stole the 2020 election and so far have not been held to account, at all, so come on, let the case die, it’s really dead anyway.
Spend our money and efforts on stopping the child sex traffic and drug dealers, not on a 76 year old lady, good God folks!
It’s about measures to set an example on the seriousness of tampering with our elections. If you commit a crime in your 70’s. You’re going to be a criminal in your 70’s, and be an inmate in your 70’s.
I would like her prosecuted to show (dumb) Dem voters that election fraud exists.
We don’t have to show it to Dem leadership, they know they cheat, but it would be good if their voters knew also.
What happens to the plea deals Simpson and son entered into, which included some form of punishment I would assume? Ironically, LeDoux might escape any punishment.
This is a classic example of why voting fraud is rampant in the United States – no consequences if you have the money to run the clock out!
One of these days, I should sit in on one of these hearings.
Not only did the lady cheat, she used the Hmong to do it.
And they are MINORITIES you clueless Progs.
The nerve if her!