Alaska Employment Law

Suspicion of prostitution in Spenard:  U. S. District Judge Timothy Burgess has adopted Magistrate Judge John Roberts’ recommendation to deny a motion to suppress the results of an investigative car stop in the Spenard area of Anchorage, based on a police officer’s suspicion of prostitution triggered by a woman’s hand gesture, previous arrest, and apparel, and the time of day.  U. S. v. Cross, 2009 WL 1444087 (D.Alaska May 20, 2009); 2009 WL 1444092 (D.Alaska May 18, 2009); 2009 WL 1444028 (D.Alaska May 1, 2009).

Alaska blawgs: Peggy Roston, at Alaska Divorce Blog, writes about the discoverability of emails, text messages, and voicemails.

Pretrial habeas corpus:  A 9th Circuit panel has affirmed U. S. District Judge John Sedwick’s denial of pretrial habeas corpus, holding that the criminal defendant failed to show any “special circumstances” to depart from the rule of Younger v. Harris that federal courts abstain from intervening in ongoing state criminal proceedings.  Wright v. Volland, 2009 WL 1465351 (9th Cir. May 27, 2009)(unpub.). 

Averil Lerman of the Anchorage federal Public Defenders office represented the petitioner.  Douglas Kossler of OSPA and Timothy Terrell, AAG, both of Anchorage, represented the defendants.