Legislature(2021 - 2022)GRUENBERG 120
05/16/2022 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Criminal Jury Trials in 2022 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
May 16, 2022
2:22 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Matt Claman, Chair
Representative Liz Snyder, Vice Chair
Representative David Eastman
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Harriet Drummond
Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
Representative Christopher Kurka
Representative Sarah Vance
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: CRIMINAL JURY TRIALS IN 2022
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel
Office of the Administrative Director
Alaska Court System
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a spreadsheet on criminal jury
trials for 2022.
JOHN SKIDMORE, Deputy Attorney General
Criminal Division (Anchorage)
Department of Law
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions during the discussion on
criminal jury trials.
ACTION NARRATIVE
2:22:13 PM
CHAIR MATT CLAMAN called the House Judiciary Standing Committee
meeting to order at 2:22 p.m. Representatives Claman, Eastman,
and Snyder (via teleconference) were present at the call to
order.
^Presentation: Criminal Jury Trials in 2022
Presentation: Criminal Jury Trials in 2022
2:22:44 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the only order of business would be
a presentation on the criminal jury trials in 2022.
2:23:18 PM
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel, Office of the Administrative
Director, Alaska Court System, presented the spreadsheet, titled
"Comprehensive Jury Trial Data for CY 2022" [included in the
committee packet]. The spreadsheet listed all the criminal jury
trials conducted from January 1 through April 30, [2022], and it
listed how each case was disposed of. She noted that the data
had not been audited.
CHAIR CLAMAN relayed that his office had revised the document by
redacting the case numbers and categorizing the dispositions.
2:25:11 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked how many jury trials are currently
ongoing.
MS. MEADE reported that only a handful of jury trials began in
December [2021] and continued into January [2022]. She
expressed uncertainty concerning the number of ongoing criminal
jury trials. She added that the Alaska Court System is
proceeding quickly with previous years.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether the sample of cases on the
spreadsheet were atypical for any reason, or whether the next
period of cases would look similar.
MS. MEADE declined to offer a speculative response. She
deferred to the Department of Law.
2:28:01 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN reminded the committee that the spreadsheet
conveyed raw data that had not been audited.
2:28:47 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether the number of cases is
expected to change in the future.
MS. MEADE responded that cases are being scheduled and heard on
a typical basis. She predicted that the current pace would
remain going forward, reiterating that it is on track with "what
it used to be."
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN questioned the meaning of "what it used
to be" and whether that phrase referred to the backlog.
MS. MEADE expressed the opinion that the four-month data from
2022 would be in the same "ballpark" as other random four-month
samples from 2016, 2018, or 2019, in terms of the number of jury
trials.
CHAIR CLAMAN invited Mr. Skidmore to present a high-level
overview of the data and offer insight into the level of
acquittals, which he deemed higher than normal.
2:31:24 PM
JOHN SKIDMORE, Deputy Attorney General, Criminal Division,
Department of Law (DOL), informed the committee that, regarding
the disposition of criminal jury trials in 2022, he found
inconsistencies between the data produced by the Alaska Court
System and data pulled by DOL. He reasoned that DOL may have
captured cases where the sentencing had yet to occur; thus,
these cases had not gone to final disposition.
2:32:35 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN offered further context. He explained that
sentencing for a misdemeanor case occurred immediately after the
verdict, whereas sentencing for a felony case may not be imposed
instantaneously.
MR. SKIDMORE confirmed that Chair Claman's summary was accurate.
He explained that criminal rules required a pre-sentencing
report to be prepared for felony cases, which takes
approximately 90 days to occur. Another aspect of the
discrepancies, he said, was that the reports were run on
different dates. Additionally, DOL's case management system
only analyzes state cases, whereas the court system's report may
have captured cases prosecuted by the municipal attorney in
Anchorage or Juneau. He reported that there was an increase in
the number of cases resulting in a "not guilty" or a dismissal
for several reasons. Firstly, the pandemic resulted in a higher
number of pending cases, which increased the difficulty of case-
load management for judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys,
making it harder to master the facts and applicable law for each
case. He suspected that the backlog was further compounded by
issues of recruitment and retention. Secondly, the pandemic
resulted in a delay in jury trials, which created challenges for
keeping practitioners sharp in their ability to walk through
evidentiary objections and move through the trial efficiently.
He added this is also in light that 50 percent of the department
is new. He discussed further challenges with recruitment and
retention, such as learning trial skills and mentoring new staff
on the procedural aspects. He stated that the new variables
implemented for the COVID-19 pandemic also created challenges.
2:41:36 PM
MR. SKIDMORE touched on further delays caused by participants
contracting COVID-19 during trials. He concluded by discussing
public participation and explaining that, in response to the
pandemic, jury trials were made available online to the public.
He noted that the online broadcasts created unanticipated
challenges, and he provided several examples. He agreed with
Representative Claman that the number of acquittals was higher;
however, he expressed the belief that the number would decrease
with time, as the recruitment and retention issues are addressed
by the department.
2:43:46 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN asked whether the acquittal rate was substantially
higher than normal.
MR. SKIDMORE responded that the rate was substantially higher.
CHAIR CLAMAN presumed that over time, the pandemic's impact on
acquittals would diminish, leaving recruitment and retention as
the primary issues.
MR. SKIDMORE agreed.
CHAIR CLAMAN recalled that an Anchorage prosecutor had testified
in a prior hearing to having 9 vacancies out of 38 positions.
He sought to confirm that the time for mentorship was
substantially undermined by the vacancies.
MR. SKIDMORE agreed and emphasized the high rate of turnover.
He added that the new hires are almost all inexperienced.
2:46:19 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN questioned the reason for the high number
of cases in the timeframe from January to March.
MR. SKIDMORE responded that it is difficult to comment on these
statistics. He agreed with Ms. Meade that in January the court
system was just getting back jury trials; however, he disagreed
with Ms. Meade as to the numbers being the same as pre-pandemic
levels. Nonetheless, he expected the numbers to increase
substantially in the future.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN questioned the fewer cases in April.
MR. SKIDMORE expressed uncertainty. He speculated that jury
trials without final dispositions could have been excluded from
the data.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN questioned the extent that recruitment
and retention was a contributing factor.
MR. SKIDMORE expressed difficulty in providing an accurate
assessment percentagewise.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked how many vacancies were created by
retirees.
MR. SKIDMORE reported that the majority of people who left the
department were not retiring but chose to take employment
elsewhere.
2:51:52 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN questioned the impact of the high acquittal rate on
plea bargains.
MR. SKIDMORE shared his personal experience. He anecdotally
reported that after losing three cases in a row, it was more
difficult to persuade the defense counsel to accept an extended
offer in plea negotiations. The opposite was true after he won
six or twelve trials in a row, he observed. He said it is a
generally accepted notion that the more successful an attorney,
the easier it is to resolve cases.
CHAIR CLAMAN concurred. He commented on the general awareness
in the statewide legal communities of how cases were "rolling
out" in trial.
MR. SKIDMORE pointed out that the majority of prosecutors are
housed in DOL; consequently, the office chiefs communicated on a
monthly basis. Similarly, the majority of the defense community
worked for either the Public Defender Agency or the Office of
Public Advocacy.
2:55:06 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN asked whether there had been efforts to assist with
the plea-bargaining process in connection with the pandemic.
MR. SKIDMORE explained the concept of "settlement conferences"
in civil cases. In Alaska, however, case law dictates that the
Alaska Court System is not supposed to engage in settlement
conferences for criminal cases. Nevertheless, in an effort to
resolve more cases during the pandemic, both the defense and the
prosecution engaged in a series of settlement conferences, which
were found to be very helpful.
CHAIR CLAMAN asked whether the acquittal rate would factor into
the effectiveness of settlement conferences in criminal matters.
MR. SKIDMORE expressed uncertainty. He expounded on the general
procedure of a settlement conference.
2:58:53 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN reiterated his concern about the vacancy rate, and
its direct impact on public safety. He asked Ms. Meade to share
her perspective on the settlement conferences.
2:59:51 PM
MS. MEADE confirmed that the program is ongoing in Anchorage.
She explained that the conferences were allowed for criminal
cases in this instance because all parties agreed that the
effort would be appropriate and helpful. She added that in
addition to settling cases, the purpose was to provide
additional training, guidance, and experience for newer
attorneys.
3:01:51 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Judiciary Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 3:01 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive Jury Trial Data for CY 2022 (supplied by Alaska Court System & distributed by HJUD Committee).pdf |
HJUD 5/16/2022 1:00:00 PM |