OPINION MANNHEIMER, Judge. In 1982, the Alaska legislature extensively revised the law that defines how a person's mental disease or defect affects their responsibility for criminal conduct. 1 As part of that revision, the legislature created a new type of verdict in criminal cases: the verdict of "guilty but mentally ill". The present case involves several potential constitutional problems relating to the "guilty but mentally ill" verdict. Because of these problems, the superior court...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION Judge ALLARD. Rodney O. Hebert was convicted of driving with a revoked license. He argues that the district court should have compelled the Municipality to...
OPINION ALLARD, Judge. Daniel Paul Fisher filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, raising issues that could be pursued in an application for post-conviction relief under Alaska Rule of Criminal Procedure 35.1. The superior court reviewed Fisher's habeas petition and sua sponte dismissed it, instructing Fisher to refile his claim as an application for post-conviction relief. Fisher filed a motion for reconsideration, pointing out that Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 86(m) requires the...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION Judge SMITH. In December 2007, Peter N. Igwacho did not appear at a pretrial conference in his felony case. The pretrial conference was continued to January 2008...
OPINION MANNHEIMER, Judge. Serena Michelle Joseph received a traffic ticket for speeding. At the trial of this traffic ticket, Joseph took the stand and testified that she had not been driving the vehicle when the police officer observed the speeding violation. Joseph was later charged with, and convicted of, perjury for giving this testimony. At her perjury trial, Joseph asked the judge to let her introduce a video re enactment made by her defense investigator — a video which, Joseph...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION MANNHEIMER, Judge. Ralph Hess appeals the superior court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. In 2007, Hess faced five felony charges:...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION MANNHEIMER, Judge. Michael J. Webb appeals his conviction for third-degree controlled substance misconduct; he argues that the evidence against him was obtained...
OPINION Judge MANNHEIMER. Trygve Angasan was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. The State's case against Angasan was based on evidence that, in the early morning hours of September 19, 2009, Angasan used his mobile phone to trade dozens of text messages with the thirteen-year-old victim, and that he then drove to her house in a silver-colored Chevrolet owned by his family. The victim got into the vehicle, and she and Angasan drove off together. When Angasan stopped the...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT COATS, Senior Judge. Ryan John Sanders was convicted of murder in the second degree for killing Travis Moore and murder in the first...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION MANNHEIMER, Judge. Thomas Saddler appeals the superior court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. Saddler's claim for post-conviction...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT COATS, Senior Judge. In Marshall v. State, 238 P.3d 590 (Alaska 2010), the Supreme Court remanded this case to the superior court to...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT SMITH, Judge. Darrel W. Vandergriff was convicted of felony driving under the influence. On appeal, he challenges various aspects of his...
OPINION COATS, Senior Judge. Kenneth J. Lewis was convicted of second-degree escape 1 for leaving a halfway house in Anchorage. At trial, Lewis contended that he was not guilty of escape because he believed he had been given permission to leave the halfway house. To rebut this defense, the court permitted the State to admit evidence of Lewis's prior conviction for escape. The court concluded that evidence of the prior conviction was admissible to undercut Lewis's defense that he mistakenly...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION SMITH, Judge. Walter Kuku was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and second-degree sexual assault for a single episode involving one victim, and...
OPINION ALLARD, Judge. This consolidated case raises the question of whether the statewide three-judge sentencing panel has the authority to impose a sentence below the presumptive range to lessen, or eliminate, the risk that a defendant will be deported. The State argues that federal law prohibits state courts from modifying a sentence for the purpose of influencing the federal immigration consequences of a conviction. It also argues that the Alaska Statutes do not authorize the three-...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT Judge ALLARD. Ronald P. Marriott appeals his convictions for first-degree failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer, felony driving under...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT Senior Judge COATS. Joseph R. Turney was indicted on twenty counts involving the sexual assault and sexual abuse of his stepdaughter, D.B. The...
Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d) and Paragraph 7 of the Guidelines for Publication of Court of Appeals Decisions (Court of Appeals Order No. 3). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited as binding authority for any proposition of law. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT Judge ALLARD. Wassillie W. Johnston pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree. 1 The sentencing judge imposed several...
OPINION Judge ALLARD. Following a jury trial, Dennis Davison was convicted of sexually assaulting his fourteen-year-old daughter, R.D., based on penile penetration. Davison was acquitted of related sexual assault charges based on oral and digital penetration. Davison's presentence report contained R.D.'s hearsay statements to the doctor who performed the sexual assault response team (SART) examination of R.D. The doctor stated that R.D. told her that Davison put his penis inside her vagina...
OPINION BOLGER, Justice. Tracy Hutton and Amanda Topkok were sitting in Hutton's vehicle near Tikishla Park in east Anchorage. A truck pulled up next to them, and someone fired a shot that hit Topkok in her left shoulder. Topkok asked Hutton to take her to the hospital, and he started driving in the same direction that the truck had gone. The truck stopped at a stoplight at DeBarr Road, and Hutton pulled up on the left side of the truck. Hutton then fired several shots in the direction of...
