Three months after a trial against a former Juneau chiropractor accused of sexual assault ended in mistrial, the new public defense team is asking for more time to review the case before a second trial.
Fourteen former patients accused Jeffrey Fultz of sexual assault under the guise of medical care. They say the incidents took place during medical appointments between 2014 and 2020 while he was employed at Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Juneau.
In September, his trial ended in a hung jury on 14 counts of felony sexual assault, and two not guilty counts. One of the 14 counts has since also been dismissed. The state is attempting to retry the remaining charges that are eligible to be considered again.
The court assigned Fultz a public defender in October, Juneau’s Nico Ambrose. Private attorney James Christie represented Fultz for the last two years, and through the trial this summer. Ambrose appeared in court Wednesday for the first time since taking over Fultz’s representation.
Ambrose requested the next hearing date to be in April, which will mark five years since Fultz’s initial arrest.
“There are just so many things in this case that need to be dealt with before we’re ready for trial,” he said.
Ambrose said he has to review trial proceedings, which lasted six weeks this summer, and hasn’t yet received transcripts from the trial. Ambrose is Fultz’s third defense attorney since his 2021 arrest.
Earlier this year, the Alaska Supreme Court issued a ruling that would limit delays in old cases, and while this case falls into that window, Ambrose said he doesn’t think it was written with a case like this in mind.
“This case has not sat around for 5 years waiting to go to trial,” he said. “It has gone to trial.”
State Prosecutor Krystyn Tendy disagrees with scheduling the next hearing so far out and said the case has taken years, regardless of the recent trial. Some of the alleged crimes happened more than a decade ago.
“We have seen how this case has dragged out and can drag out,” she said.
Tendy said the court needs to set a new trial date, and should schedule a hearing in February.
Ambrose said having hearings sooner than April — six months after he was assigned to the case — would be a waste of the court’s time.
Judge Larry Woolford scheduled the next hearing for this case on Feb. 11 at 11:30 a.m.
