Alaska Employment Law

 U. S. Judge Ralph Beistline has dismissed a Section 1983 attack on a conviction by a criminal defendant who pleaded to an SIS.  The § 1983 action claimed that two state prosecutors - former 4th Judicial District D. A. Jeff O’Bryant and Assistant D. A. Jenel Domke - had targeted the defendant on the basis of gender. 

Beistline stated:

In Heck [v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994)], the Supreme Court of the United States addressed whether a State prisoner may challenge the constitutionality of his conviction in a suit for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Court compared a § 1983 action to the common-law cause of action for malicious prosecution, because it permits damages for confinement imposed pursuant to legal process.  “One element that must be alleged and proved in a malicious prosecution action is termination of the prior criminal proceeding in favor of the accused.”  * * *

Plaintiff argues that his “no contest” plea to a single misdemeanor with a suspended imposition of sentence, successfully completed, resulted in his conviction being set aside. He argues that this scenario results in a termination in his favor adequate to allow a § 1983 action to go forward. Docket 15. The Court disagrees. A suspended imposition of sentence is not the equivalent of having a sentence expunged from a criminal record. The Alaska Supreme Court has observed that although a conviction may be set aside after the successful completion of probation under a suspended imposition of sentence, the failure to establish factual innocence or to formally challenge the validity of the conviction or the legitimacy of the underlying arrest prevents expungement.Records are expunged only in exceptional circumstances. Plaintiff’s successful completion of a suspended imposition of sentence is not adequate under Heck to allow him to bring a § 1983 action against the prosecutors.

Schafer v. State of Alaska, Case No. 4:08-cv-0030-RRB (D.Alaska Order of Mar. 31, 2009)

Jason Crawford of Fairbanks represented the Section 1983 plaintiff.  Janell Hafner, Juneau AAG, represented the defendants.