Charlie Buttrey

October 14, 2024

On May 1, a man in Anchorage, Alaska, called 911 to say he had “beat” his wife, according to a court document supporting an assault charge against him. When police stepped through the door of Vernon Booth’s apartment, they found the victim’s face bloody and her eye nearly swollen shut, and the man told the officers “she could have been dead by now.”

Four months later, prosecutors dropped the charge. It wasn’t because police made a mistake that got evidence tossed or because a jury found the defendant not guilty. Instead: The city said it did not have enough lawyers to take the man to trial.

In fact, since May 1, defendants in at least 930 Anchorage misdemeanor cases have had their cases dismissed because the city does not have enough attorneys to prosecute the cases. While the charges are misdemeanors (meaning they are punishable by no more than a year in jail), many of the charges are not insignificant:  More than 250 of the cases dismissed since May included charges of domestic violence assault, such as men allegedly punching, kicking or threatening to kill children, their spouses and/or their girlfriends, violating restraining orders and animal cruelty, another 270 charges were for DWI, and 70 were for child neglect or abuse.

According to the city, a grand total of three defendants have gone to trial since May 1st.

I may not have the solution (though I’m guessing improving pay for city attorneys might be a good start), but I sure know what the problem is.

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