One woman in Stebbins has filed suit against an agency called the Alaska Department of Corrections, contending that she and others within the prison system of the state were unlawfully held in detention for over 48 hours, without having been charged.
Barbara Pete, represented by the Northern Justice Project, filed suit on Oct. 6, in Nome. The lawsuit was first published on The Nome Nugget.
Based on court papers, Pete was arrested in Stebbins for assault involving domestic violence and was taken into Nome’s Anvil Mountain Correctional Center, which she stayed in for over two days to be granted a judicial determination of probable cause.
The suit asks that the state judge make a declaration in which the Department of Corrections “has violated and is infringing Article I, Section 14 of the Alaska Constitution by detaining Alaskans arrested without warrants, and without a quick decision by a judge of probable reason.”
Nick Feronti, an attorney working for the Northern Justice Project, is representing Pete and has said that they plan to apply for class-action status, and want to hear about the experiences of others who are who are in her position.
“I wouldn’t be shocked to hear that other people have come in,” he said, noting that he’s spoken to public defense attorneys whose clients have had similar delays in charging.
Feronti believes that there are challenges across the state however, the most significant problem is in the Nome region.
In 2003, Superior Court Judge Romano DiBenedetto in a formal scolding of an Anvil Mountain superintendent and local district attorney over charging delays.
“It came up to me that there’s an ongoing problem of arrested persons being detained to AMCC without charge documents filing,” DiBenedetto wrote.
The memo was drafted in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic that disrupted legal proceedings in the state. However, Feronti stated that he believes the disease is not over and requires attention.
The Department of Corrections had not received a formal notice of the lawsuit by Friday. The deputy commissioner April Wilkerson said by email that the department was not able to provide an initial response and will make a statement in court at the right time.
This article first appeared in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
