Crime & Courts

The state’s lawsuit against builders of the fast ferries has been shelved indefinitely.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg declared Thursday that “proceedings in this case will cease.” That was after he had a chance to research the law behind a motion to move the case out of state court and into federal bankruptcy court. However, the motion was not filed by the company currently in bankruptcy proceedings. Instead, it was filed by the remaining co-defendant in the state’s lawsuit over allegedly defective engines.

If the case is ever remanded back to state court, Judge Pallenberg says only then will he consider if he’ll sanction MTU Friedrichshafen and MTU Detroit Diesel for potential impropriety, or use of the motion as a delaying tactic.

Attorneys for the State and Alaska Marine Highway System got blindsided by a motion to remove the case out of state court. A hearing had been planned for Wednesday to compel MTU to provide witnesses for depositions.

The Alaska Marine Highway System believes that the engines for the fast ferries Fairweather and Chenega are defective. The vessel’s builders, Derecktor Shipyard of Connecticut, dropped out of the case when the company filed for bankruptcy protection in January.

Another telephone scam has hit Juneau. This one for check fraud.

According to Juneau police, a man has been making calls saying he’s pursuing a $10,000 federal judgment for check fraud. He claims to be from the householder’s bank.

JPD spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says one Juneau woman told police that she called her bank and was told it was fraudulent.

“He was obviously trying to get money out of her,” Brown-Mills says. “He had some really interesting information about her, some old work history and things like that.”

Police and the Alaska office of the FBI say there’s been an increase in recent weeks in the number of telephone scams in the capital city, including the so-called “Grandma Scam.”

Con artists targeting senior citizens pose as a family member who’s been in a car accident, is stranded and calling for money.

“If it sounds fishy, it probably is,” Brown-Mills says.

She says is all these cases the caller sounds believable because he has personal information about the family, often easy to find in these days of the Internet, especially on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Brown-Mills says it’s hard for local police to investigate the scams, because they often cross state and even international lines, which is why they’re referred to the FBI.

If you get such a call, never give out personal information. It’s best to just hang up.

The state’s lawsuit against builders of the fast ferries took another unexpected turn on Wednesday.

The German-builder of the ferry’s engines submitted a last-minute motion to remove the entire case to federal bankruptcy court. That would effectively take the entire lawsuit, at least temporarily, out of the hands of state Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg.

The Alaska Marine Highway System believes that the engines for the fast ferries Fairweather and Chenega are defective. But the vessel’s builders, Derecktor Shipyard of Connecticut, filed for bankruptcy protection in January. For now, they are not a defendant in the state’s lawsuit. But the case can still proceed against the German company that built the ferries’ engines, MTU Friedrichshafen, and the U.S. company that has done maintenance, MTU Detroit Diesel.

Attorneys for the state and ferry system were not happy about the surprise filing. Judge Pallenberg even considered that such a motion by a non-debtor could constitute a willful violation of the automatic stay in the state case.

Wednesday afternoon’s hearing was originally planned to compel engine builder MTU to produce witnesses for planned depositions for an upcoming trial. State attorneys believe that MTU is purposely hindering the pre-trial process by releasing witnesses or making them unavailable. MTU says that’s not the case.

All the parties hope to review the law before the hearing is continued on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Judge Pallenberg warned MTU to “release witnesses (from depositions) at its own peril.”

Another case of poaching against a member of the Duby family has come to an end in Juneau.

Jason W. Duby, 36, reached an agreement with prosecutors and changed his plea to guilty for bear baiting without a permit and hunting in a closed area. Another charge of taking a black bear without an appropriate permit was dropped.

For each of the remaining charges, Duby was sentenced to ten days in jail with all ten days suspended. That means no time to serve. He was also fined a total of $8,000 with $4,000 suspended. He was ordered to pay restitution totaling $1220. That includes the black bear that was taken. He also forfeits the hide and skull, a bow, and a trail camera. His hunting privileges are revoked for a year and he’ll be on probation for three years.

Duby, originally listed as from Clelum, Washington, called into Tuesday’s sentencing hearing from a charter boat off the coast of Hawaii where he’s apparently working as a sport fishing guide. The hearing paused briefly as Duby’s cellphone lost the connection. Most of his comments were “yep” and “yeah” in response to routine questions from Juneau District Court Judge Keith Levy. Later he said “I don’t need to say anything.”

Duby is one of the brothers of 37-year old Michael Patrick Duby, owner and operator of FishHunter Charters in Juneau, who was also convicted of hunting and fishing violations. For Jason Duby, investigators say he took a bear at a bait station behind Michael Duby’s house on Glacier Highway.

An Arkansas court will hear motions in May on whether to transfer to juvenile court the case of three Arkansas teenagers charged with Kevin Thornton’s murder.

The date was set on Monday when Richard Whybark, age 17, Timothy Norwood and Clinton Ross, both age 16, appeared in Hot Spring County Circuit Court.

The teens were charged in August in adult court with the second degree murder of 19-year-old Kevin Thornton, of Juneau, who was visiting the Malvern, Arkansas area when he was assaulted while he and a friend were walking along a road. Prosecutors say the teens attacked the two for no apparent reason. They’re also are charged with an aggravating count of violent group activity.

Defense attorneys argue the charges should have been initially filed in juvenile court. They filed the motion to transfer in October.

Attorney Gregory Crain appeared with the trio in court on Monday. In his motion, he argues that subjecting a juvenile to the penalties available to adults – such as a life sentence without parole – is cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions.

The hearing on the motion to transfer the case to juvenile court is scheduled for May first.

Meanwhile, mental evaluations for Ross and Whybark indicate the teens have the capacity to understand the legal proceedings against them and to effectively assist in their own defense.

All three boys recently went through court-ordered forensic examinations. Results for two were available. According to the psychologist’s report, neither Ross nor Whybark had any mental disease or defect at the time of the examination and the alleged conduct.

The forensic report indicates both had the capacity to appreciate the criminality of the alleged offense.

Ross had just finished 9th grade prior to alleged assault of Thornton. He told the psychologist that he had been arrested once on a battery charge at age 15. He reported using alcohol, often to intoxication on some weekends, and said he had consumed about 10 to 15 beers the afternoon of the alleged assault.

Whybark was a senior in high school. He reported receiving school counseling for anger issues in 11th grade. Whybark told the psychologist that he began using alcohol about age 12. He said prior to his arrest he was using it most weekends to the point of becoming intoxicated.

He also said he had consumed 14 to 15 beers the afternoon of the alleged assault that resulted in Thornton’s death.

Under Arkansas law, self-induced intoxication is not a defense for failure to recognize one’s actions are culpable.

Federal authorities say a Juneau restaurant bought subsistence-caught halibut to serve up for their clientele.

Owners of the Zen Restaurant and Jaded Bar will pay an $18,000 dollar penalty as part of a settlement agreement signed on February 23rd. Federal investigators say Zen’s owners purchased subsistence halibut on two occasions during an undercover investigation in February and March of 2010. Search warrants were then served on the restaurant and the owners’ residences.

Zen features Asian fusion cuisine and is located in the Goldbelt Hotel. A phone answerer at Zen on Monday said owners Cai and Yao Hu were not in the restaurant. They do not have a listed home number.

The maximum penalty under the Northern Pacific Halibut Act could’ve been $200,000 for each violation. That’s the federal law that prohibits the sale, trade, or barter of subsistence halibut.

Federal authorities did not specify whether the subsistence fisherman who caught the halibut was charged for a violation or cooperated in the investigation.

This isn’t the first time that a Juneau restaurant operator has been caught serving up subsistence-caught halibut. Federal agents swooped into Doc Water’s Pub at Merchant’s Wharf four years ago. Both the restaurant owner Jason Maroney and the subsistence fisherman David Skrzynski were eventually convicted of violating the Lacey Act. That’s the federal law prohibiting sale or purchase of fish or wildlife that’s been acquired in violation of another state or federal law. Skrzynski was a commercial salmon fisherman and holder of a Subsistence Halibut Registration Certificate, or SHARC card, but he did not have a valid commercial entry permit for halibut.