Demand Regarding the Kenai Grand Jury Report and Recommendation on Judicial Corruption in Alaska
1. In 2022, after months of citizen protests demanding an independent Grand Jury investigation into evidence of judicial corruption, a Kenai Grand Jury was allowed to investigate. (Issue came to a head when a judge ordered a 4th Kenai Grand Jury to stop, and permanently disbanded them, after a majority voted to investigate the allegations of judicial corruption. Citizens promptly organized a state-wide courthouse sit-in until the Grand Jury was re-impaneled and allowed to finish. See Article 1, Section 8 below.)
2. Concerns were and are: (A) evidence that the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct (ACJC) is falsifying official investigations to keep corrupt judges on the bench; (B) that the Alaska Department of Law (DOL) has been covering up this, and other corruption, for decades; and (C) that all previous attempts by citizens and Grand Juries to expose this have been unconstitutionally and/or illegally thwarted by public officials up to and including the Deputy Attorney General and Alaska Supreme Court.
3. The Grand Jury investigated for a year and on April 28, 2023 issued a Report and Recommendation “to be made public” on what they found, along with indicting a judge for perjury. But another judge promptly dismissed the indictment as technically “defective” - and states that the Report and Recommendation will never be released to the public, even though the Grand Jury required it “to be made public”.
4. Article 1, Section 8 of Alaska’s Constitution: “The power of Grand Juries to investigate and make recommendations concerning the public welfare or safety shall never be suspended.” The 55 delegates writing Alaska’s Constitution stated this in the Commentary to the Preamble and Declaration of Rights: “The Grand Jury is preserved, for all purposes, particularly for investigation of public officials.” On Constitutional Convention transcript page 1328 they also stated: “The Grand Jury can be appealed to directly, which is an invaluable right to the citizen. The Grand Jury in its investigative power as well as for the fact that it is sitting there as a panel sometimes is the only recourse for a citizen to get justice, to get redress from abuse in lower courts...it is the only safeguard a citizen occasionally has when for any reason and very often for political reasons, a case is not dealt with properly.”
5. Also alarming: (A) it appears the AK Supreme Court tried to unconstitutionally stop the investigation right after the Grand Jury subpoenaed implicated judges and the ACJC's judge investigator (See SCO 1993 and SCO 1993's history); (B) the ACJC’s judge investigator lawyered up and refused to testify; (C) the Grand Jury fired the Department of Law (DOL) attorney working for them and asked for “independent counsel”. But was then provided a private attorney who, when he worked for the DOL, investigated and exonerated the same public officials for the same exact corruption that the Grand Jury was now re-investigating. This attorney now claims he “forgot” to tell the Grand Jury about his direct conflict of interest; and is the attorney who drafted the technically “defective” indictment and now refuses to seek re-indictment. This attorney is now recorded stating “the system wants this to go away and they pushed it to me because they thought I would be a conduit to kill this.”; and (D) the Grand Jury couldn’t re-indict the judge or even issue an order that their Report and Recommendation be released to the public - because 12 Grand Jurors are required for a quorum and Alaska’s judicial system only re-impaneled 12 jurors with 0 alternates to investigate the judicial corruption. Then one of them went mysteriously missing during their proceedings and is still missing to this day – rendering the Grand Jury powerless. Yet Alaska Presiding Judge Order 971 requires 18 jurors to be impaneled - not including alternates, 6 of which are impaneled on all other Alaskan Grand Juries (for a total of 24). What happened to the missing Juror? Why can’t he or she be found? And why were so few Jurors impaneled with no alternates?
Most alarming of all: The Reportorial Power of the Alaska Grand Jury (© 1986 by Alaska Law Review) “The extent of the power of Alaska Grand Juries to issue recommendations concerning specific officials was brought into focus when, on July 1, 1985, a Juneau Grand Jury issued a report recommending that the Alaska Senate commence impeachment proceedings against Governor William Sheffield… To prepare such an answer [to a Grand Jury report and recommendation], however, takes time. New York allows the public official twenty days to prepare an answer. There is a strong argument that a delay of this length “suspends” the Grand Jury’s power by reducing the effectiveness of the recommendation. The framers intended that this power be used to protect Alaska’s citizens. Grand Jury reports concern conditions inimical to the public welfare. Where such conditions exist, a lengthy delay to allow a criticized official to answer the allegations may further harm the public interest by delaying corrective action.” (page 325)
If a 20-day delay violates the “anti-suspension” clause of Alaska’s Constitution, it is clear the over 500-day delay (and counting) does also. It is also clear there is a conflict of interest in Alaska’s judges prohibiting citizens from seeing a Grand Jury Report and Recommendation concerning corruption in Alaska’s judges.
Demands
(Unless met, we the undersigned believe another state-wide courthouse sit-in is justified until they are.)
1. We the undersigned demand Alaska’s Governor appoint an independent commission to publicly and thoroughly investigate all allegations and evidence of judicial corruption, along with any leads developed, with special emphasis on exposing all efforts to obstruct or conceal Grand Jury and citizen rights; on restoring all Grand Jury and citizen rights; and on making sure this can never happen again. (See 1992 Mollen Commission)
2. We the undersigned demand Alaska’s legislature publicly conduct a duplicate investigation of its own.
3. We the undersigned demand Alaska’s Attorney General impanel another Grand Jury to publicly and thoroughly investigate all allegations and evidence of judicial corruption, along with any leads developed (with truly independent counsel, 18 Jurors, and 6 alternates), with emphasis on exposing all efforts to obstruct or conceal Grand Jury and citizen rights; on restoring all rights; and on making sure this can’t happen again.
