ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
It is more than a little unsettling to read criminal and civil trials, along with grand juries, are suspended again in Alaska until next year.
While case counts continue to rise, criminal jury trials are on hold until at least March 15, and in-person civil trials are suspended until Sept. 7, but the suspension does not apply to trials in which video conference proceedings have been approved, an order issued by Alaska Chief Justice Joel Bolger says. In-person grand juries are suspended until Feb. 1..
The courts have been closed since March 23.
We are left to wonder at the delay’s effect on those jailed and charged with crimes or those who feel they need to redress their grievances or differences before a judge or jury. And what about victims awaiting justice? What must they be going through?
This era of uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 virus is bringing with it unforeseen problems.
Still, despite the circumstances, justice delayed …
This is perhaps the most underrated civil rights fallout from the pandemic. People are being held, in effect, without due process.
We have been waiting for even a little bit of justice since August of 2019. The creeps that stole and trashed our only vehicle have been out on bail since February and one of them has stolen another vehicle. The Grand Jury has indicted them on 4 felonies and a misdemeanor each. And we would certainly appreciate some of the restitution that is owed to us. And they didn’t have to post bail because they “promised” to show up for the trials that keep getting postponed. Part of the reason not one judicial vote came from our house.
I’m sorry to say that you will never see any restitution. More than likely they’ll be right back in jail. If they were to stay out you would have to go the long road of having to get their PFD if it’s still exists at that time but that’s about it I’m sorry to say. The court says they have to pay it and that you’re owed, but they can’t make them pay. We found this out when some people broke in and stole some jewelry of my wife’s. We found it at a local pawn shop and identified the people who broke in and stole it, when was a minor which they did nothing to except get her back to her parents, and the other was a 21-year-old black kid that wore a Troy aikman football jersey and he was arrested two or three more times and was back in the prison so we never had any way of getting the money for the jewelry that we didn’t recover. Apparently he didn’t sell it all because he thought some of the diamonds were fake and that it was worthless. I’m sure he got his just rewards while in prison.
I hope the Alaska Court System focuses what resources it has in sticking to its own business. The Alaska operating budget is easily twice what the state gross product – the real gross state product, what we produce to sell to the rest of the world – can support over the mid to long term. (Don’t forget that our population is much larger today than it was when Alaskans produced far more oil, and we depleted that oil to grow government.) Democrats, lobbyists and the wider group of big government supporters understand that at some level but are counting on the courts as a backstop to prevent spending reductions in education, Medicaid, corrections and rural municipal spending by state government such as law enforcement. Don’t forget that the Alaska courts have ruled that prisoners in state prisons have to have both crunchy and smooth peanut butter (so don’t think the Alaska Court System is above dictating every facet of state spending). Many Democrats will happily tell you that the courts might even impose an income tax if the Legislature fails to enact one. So I hope the courts are busy doing the best they can with their own knitting.
Kind of like telling the criminals it’s a free for all, for now……
I’ll tell you what the victim’s families are feeling: Anger and disgust. Steven J Lawton fled to NorthDakota after killing my daughter’s mom by choosing to drive 90+ on Bogard Road in April of 2018! He was brought to Alaska, bailed out by mommy and daddy and the Judge let him go back to North Dakota to work while he awaits trial and the low-life defense attorney is using every trick in thee book to delay things.
No justice for victims, only coddling of criminals.
All this over a overblown virus 99% of people recover from.
Are you happy, Alaska? You stood by and watched as oligarchs shredded the Constitution. Because you were scared.
Sorry, Ben Franklin. You gave us a republic. We couldn’t keep it.
There are no judicial layoffs. Judges, clerks and staff are still on full pay status.
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