District Court - Fourth Judicial District Judge Jane F. Kauvar

Shall Jane F. Kauvar be retained as judge of the district court for four years?

Appointed in 1981 by Gov. Jay Hammond (R)

A article about a recent case she presided over: http://www.adn.com/2010/04/07/1215892/gun-rights-advocate-can-be-armed.html

Again, it is not easy to find much helpful information on the judges without reading through the cases they made decisions on. I will be much more diligent in this matter in the future as two weeks is not enough time to do that kind of research. If I find I have time to do more research/study before the election I may amend this entry.

Update 11/1/10: According to this research recommend No to retainment due to, "Weak on Drugs and Bad Judgement on Judges". Here is an excerpt on the research:

"http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread16912.shtml

After the trial, Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Richard Savell approved Satterberg's motion for
dismissal in June, writing under his signature of approval that Ravin governs. While Savell's decision attracted significant local media attention, Satterberg said it did little to address the question of whether a portion of Alaska's marijuana laws are unconstitutional, considering prosecutors are unlikely to appeal the ruling and send it to a higher court with the possibility of setting precedent.

He said that prosecutors' reluctance to appeal lower judges' decisions upholding Ravin is one
reason the issue has yet to be finalized. Also, many defendants will often accept the relatively light sentence that comes with a misdemeanor pot conviction and not pursue the matter any further, he said. Satterberg said he was actually pleased when Fairbanks District Court Judge Jane Kauvar rejected his motion for dismissal in the Noy case, providing him with an opportunity to bring the Ravin issue before the Court of Appeals.

"If Judge Kauvar would have dismissed, that would have been the end of it," Satterberg said.
"You'll never see these (dismissals) get appealed" by state prosecutors. Acting Superior Court Judge Jane F. Kauvar before the Blakely decision, filed a motion to correct his sentence under Alaska Criminal Rule 35(a), arguing that his sentence was illegal under Blakely because Judge Kauvar had found several aggravating factors without submitting those aggravators to a jury. Judge Kauvar concluded that she should review Averys sentence. The State argued that Judge Kauvar had no authority to review Averys sentence because all of the aggravating factors that the court had previously found were based upon Averys prior convictions, and therefore, Blakely did not require submission of these aggravating factors to a jury. When Judge Kauvar set a sentencing hearing to review Averys sentence, the State filed a petition for review in this court. We granted the petition. We now conclude that all of the aggravating factors that applied to Averys sentence were based upon his prior convictions, and therefore, Blakely did not require jury submission.

• Judge Kauvar sits on the Judicial Review Committee. There is obvious bad judgement made
for retention.

Suggest NON-RETENTION: Weak on Drugs, Bad Judgment on Judges"