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"

Superior Court - Fourth Judicial District Michael A. MacDonald

Shall Michael A. MacDonald be retained as judge of the superior court for six years?

According to the State of Alaska Region III Voter Guide the Judicial Council Recommends a Yes Vote

Appointed in 2007 by governor Sarah Palin (R)

Not much easily found but here is one article:
http://www.adn.com/2009/02/07/683379/fatal-stabbing-draws-15-year-sentence.html

I'm publishing this now but may try to ammend it before the election.

Superior Court - Fourth Judicial District Marvin C. Hamilton III

Shall Marvin Hamilton III be retained as judge of the superior court for six years?

According to the State of Alaska Region III Voter Guide the Judicial Council Recommends a Yes Vote

Appointed in 2007 by Governor Sarah Palin (R)

One case I found involves a child abuse case (which I quickly scrolled through the descriptions of abuse) based on the defendants grandchildren’s statements that the defendant wanted stricken from the case. From the court document, “Superior Court Judge Marvin Hamilton denied _____ motion to strike her grandchildrens statements from the presentence report. Instead, he supplemented the record with _____ affidavit setting forth her competing version of events.”

A article about another case Hamilton presided over: http://www.thetundradrums.com/article/1014former_k300_race_manager_to_repay_7500

A couple more articles:
http://www.thetundradrums.com/article/1014former_k300_race_manager_to_repay_7500

https://www.abanet.org/rol/news/news_philippines_judges_training_speedy_trial_laws_1209.shtml

The only thing that stood out to me was his statement in the voter guide, "...I do my best to decide matters carefully and impartially, according to the law..." As I stated on my Blankenship post: "Those who are supporters of the Constitution being interpreted as the founders intended and Jury Nullification may want to think on this statement. That's not to say his views are for or against the two mentioned positions, merely that this statement could be a positional indicator."

Superior Court - Fourth Judicial District Douglas Blankenship

Shall Douglas L. Blankenship be retained as judge of the superior court for six years?

According to the State of Alaska Region III Voter Guide the Judicial Council Recommends a Yes Vote

Appointed in 2006 by Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) re-appointed in 2010 by Walter L. Carpeneti.

Here is an article relating to his judgment in relation to the CLEAN-WATER INITIATIVE REACTION TO PEBBLE MINE: http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/030208/sta_252907217.shtml

• This document relates to his above judgment. http://www.alaskalawblog.com/sp-ord62.pdf

The only thing that stood out to me was his statement in the voter guide, "I believe the charge to a judge is to interpret the law as enacted by the legislature as representatives of the people." Those who are supporters of the Constitution being interpreted as the founders intended and Jury Nullification may want to think on this statement. That's not to say his views are for or against the two mentioned positions, merely that this statement could be a positional indicator.

Court of Appeals Judge David Mannheimer

Shall David Mannheimer be retained as judge of the court of appeals for eight years?

According to the State of Alaska Region III Voter Guide the Judicial Council Recommends a Yes Vote

Appointed in 1990 by Governor Steve Cowper (D)

In my searches the best information I found was some articles on some of his judgments. They are as follows:

• An article on an abuse case (Some details may bother some people): http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2011/02/18/local_news/doc4b74ce3e58d5e284078130.txt

• Another helpful article about a case involving Coercive Searches by police officers during traffic stops: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/23/2333.asp

• This article goes along with the one above: http://flexyourrights.org/2008_04_21_a_great_4th_amendment_ruling_in_alaska

• Finally this one features Mannheimers dissent statements in regards to a Marijuana used for religious purposes case: http://www.newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Alaska+court+rejects+religious+appeal+in+marijuana+case+%20&id=5635448&instance=home_news_window_left_top_3

Update 11/1/10: According to this research recommended No for retainment due to "weak sentencing".

Supreme Court Justice Dana Fabe

Ballot question is:

Shall Dana A. Fabe be retained as judge of the supreme court for ten years?

According to the State of Alaska Region III Voter Guide the Judicial Council Recommends a Yes Vote

Appointed in 1996 by Governor Tony Knowles (D).

Senator Mark Begich recommended her to President Obama for a U.S. Supreme Court Vacancy.

According to this website http://noonfabe.org/ they state, "In her nearly 22 years on the bench, Justice Fabe has continually used her office to advance a left-wing ideology, characterized by controversial rulings that have no sound basis in the law or the constitution."

One such instance they point out involves a case ruling from November of 2007 in which the Alaska Supreme Court overturned a law requiring parental consent for minors to obtain an abortion. According to this and this article Justice Fabe wrote the majority ruling stating, “a measure that simply provided parents with notification in advance of a minor's abortion, rather than obtaining their consent, would be legally sound.”

Actual Alaska Supreme court rulings can be found at this site: http://touchngo.com/sp/spindex.htm

This blog also has some information on her, just do a search on her name.

Update 10/27/10: more detail found here.

Note: I don't always want to say Yes to the judges just because I know nothing about them. I have realized that they are some of the people working to circumvent constitutional boundaries to push their private agendas.