Judge deliberating on request to dismiss sex abuse of a minor charges against Alaska’s former acting attorney general

An Anchorage Superior Court docket choose is anticipated to challenge a choice inside a couple of months on requests to dismiss sexual abuse of a minor expenses filed final yr in opposition to Alaska’s former performing lawyer normal.

Clyde “Ed” Sniffen is accused of getting intercourse with a 17-year-old lady he coached on an Anchorage highschool mock trial group in 1991 when he was 27. Sniffen served as performing lawyer normal for roughly 5 months in 2020 to 2021 and resigned because the allegations have been about to be made public in a information article revealed by the Anchorage Day by day Information and ProPublica.

Now an grownup, Nikki White got here ahead with the abuse allegations after listening to that Sniffen was anticipated to completely stay the state’s prime prosecutor.

The dismissal requests filed by Sniffen’s lawyer are based mostly on the period of time that’s handed for the reason that alleged abuse occurred.

Superior Court docket Choose Erin Marston, who heard oral arguments throughout a listening to Tuesday, is anticipated to decide on the dismissal requests pretty quickly, in response to Sniffen’s lawyer. Marston is retiring from the bench, in response to Rebecca Koford, a spokeswoman for the courtroom system.

The state Workplace of Particular Prosecutions charged Sniffen in Might, greater than a yr after White’s accusations grew to become public. He was indicted by an Anchorage grand jury in September on thee counts of sexual abuse of a minor by an authority determine.

Sniffen’s lawyer Jeffrey Robinson has since filed two motions to dismiss the case: one centered on statute of limitation pointers and the opposite on the competition that the lengthy delay between the alleged abuse and the state expenses violated Sniffen’s proper to due course of.

The prolonged delay in prosecution signifies that some proof now not exists, Robinson mentioned. It additionally prohibits Sniffen from offering alibis as a result of there will not be actual dates or areas for among the allegations, he mentioned.

On Tuesday, Robinson and state particular prosecutor Gregg Olson offered arguments on the dismissal motions in a brief listening to earlier than Marston, who will now take the motions beneath advisement earlier than issuing an order along with his choice.

Earlier than the listening to began, Sniffen, as soon as in line to be the state’s prime lawyer, chatted collegially within the largely empty courtroom along with his lawyer in addition to Olson, the state prosecutor who’s now main the investigation in opposition to him.

The case started practically 30 years in the past.

The Anchorage Police Division opened an investigation in 1994 when White disclosed the abuse to a counselor, a supplier required to report potential prison exercise involving kids to authorities. White has mentioned she didn’t really feel sturdy sufficient on the time to proceed with the case and declined to talk with an investigator then. Police didn’t proceed the investigation with out her cooperation.

Throughout a listening to earlier this month, each attorneys questioned a number of individuals together with White and investigators who dealt with the case in 1994 and in recent times.

Robinson famous that a number of data requested by the detective within the latest investigation now not exist, together with paperwork from the highschool or the Anchorage Youth Court docket that might have established Sniffen’s roles within the packages, the figuring out issue for whether or not against the law has been dedicated. The age of consent in Alaska is mostly 16, however legislation dictates that it’s unlawful for an grownup to have intercourse with a 16- or 17-year-old whom they’re educating, counseling or teaching.

There’s no solution to inform what data could have existed beforehand, Olson mentioned, however the detective now working the case was being thorough in in search of the paperwork.

Robinson mentioned that police “dropped the ball” by not following up on the case within the many years between the preliminary allegations and now.

Throughout Tuesday’s listening to, Olson mentioned it made sense for police to halt the investigation in 1994 as a result of they didn’t have a first-hand account of what occurred from the sufferer and subsequently didn’t have sufficient possible trigger to pursue expenses.

The protection “is blaming the sufferer for her incapability to come back ahead,” he mentioned.