Slow Justice
Why Some Alaska Criminal Cases Drag on for Years
Although Alaska court rules say defendants must go on trial within 120 days from arrest, judges have routinely granted requests for postponement that delay resolution. Victims have died waiting to see their alleged attackers face a jury.
Featured Posts in this Series
-
Anchorage Police Say They Witnessed a Sexual Assault in Public. It Took Seven Years for the Case to Go to Trial.
In Alaska, where the time to resolve most serious felony cases has nearly tripled over the past decade, one case was delayed so long that both victims died. A former prosecutor called it “a travesty of justice.”
Series Timeline
March 12, 2025:
Alaska’s Supreme Court ordered new restrictions on pretrial delays.
Feb. 12, 2025:
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan M. Carney told lawmakers that reducing extreme delays is “our No. 1 priority.”
Jan. 9, 2025:
Our timeline laid out the more than 70 delays that have occurred since 2014 for a defendant charged with sexual assault.
Jan. 7, 2025:
We wrote about a tripling in the time it takes to resolve Alaska’s most serious felony cases, highlighting two sexual assault cases in which the alleged victims died while the clock ticked by for a trial to be held.
Oct. 16, 2024:
Officials said they would assign state prosecutors to help Anchorage move forward with criminal cases rather than having them dismissed.
Oct. 13, 2024:
Our reporting revealed that hundreds of Anchorage misdemeanors have been tossed because a short-staffed prosecutor’s office couldn’t meet the 120-day trial deadline.
10 stories published since 2024
