Alaska Lawmaker Calls for Hiring More Prosecutors, Public Defenders to Reduce Extreme Delay in Criminal Cases
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
A top Alaska lawmaker said the state needs to hire twice as many prosecutors and public defenders if it wants to end the kind of extreme courtroom delays that the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica exposed over the past year.
Rep. Andrew Gray, chair of a legislative committee that holds jurisdiction over the Alaska court system, prosecutors and public defenders, said the news organizations’ stories of criminal cases delayed for years “stab my heart.” The time it takes to resolve Alaska’s most serious felony cases is three years, or more than twice as long as in 2015.
“I hate how slow this system is. It kills me,” Gray said.
The blame, he said, should not fall on the front-line attorneys but on the state of Alaska for failing to hire enough prosecutors and public defenders.
Gray is the latest official to respond to stories in the Daily News and ProPublica revealing how delays can harm criminal defendants and crime victims alike.
Susan M. Carney, chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, said in February that the system was “not meeting expectations — our own or Alaskans’” when it comes to the swift execution of justice. The next month, the court ordered new restrictions on pretrial continuances.
But Gray said that beyond the court order, it will take new resources to meet the goal of resolving more cases quickly. The court system’s own standard for speedy trials sets a 120-day deadline, which is rarely met.
(Gray, in an interview, and Carney, in her speech to the Legislature, both noted that the median time to resolve less serious charges is far faster than for the most serious felonies: Class B misdemeanors — crimes such as criminal mischief or shoplifting — are closed within a median of about four months, Carney said.)
Victim advocates, attorneys and judges told the newsrooms that Alaska has grappled with increasing delays for decades.
Gray said lawmakers, who write the state spending plan and started a new legislative session on Tuesday, should include additional funding to reduce the caseloads carried by prosecutors and public defenders.
“I don’t know exactly what the number is, but it will be a big one,” Gray said. “And yes, I would absolutely advocate for that.”
120 Days
Alaska’s speedy-trial deadline.
1,124 Days
The median time it took for the most serious category of felony cases to be resolved in Alaska in 2025. That’s more than twice as long as in 2015.
Retired Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Niesje Steinkruger, who worked as a public defender and assistant attorney general, agreed that inadequate staffing places a strain on attorneys on both sides who are being pushed to resolve cases faster.
“It puts those lawyers in just an awful position. They are type A personalities: They want to do the best that they can.”
Jacqueline Shepherd, an attorney who has tracked pretrial delays and does pro bono work for the ACLU of Alaska, agreed about the need for more front-line attorneys. According to a 1998 audit for the Legislature, public defenders can “ethically” handle no more than 59 cases at a time. Shepherd said some public defenders in Anchorage are asked to juggle 140 to 170. “Obviously, they are overloaded,” she …
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
A top Alaska lawmaker said the state needs to hire twice as many prosecutors and public defenders if it wants to end the kind of extreme courtroom delays that the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica exposed over the past year.
Rep. Andrew Gray, chair of a legislative committee that holds jurisdiction over the Alaska court system, prosecutors and public defenders, said the news organizations’ stories of criminal cases delayed for years “stab my heart.” The time it takes to resolve Alaska’s most serious felony cases is three years, or more than twice as long as in 2015.
“I hate how slow this system is. It kills me,” Gray said.
The blame, he said, should not fall on the front-line attorneys but on the state of Alaska for failing to hire enough prosecutors and public defenders.
Gray is the latest official to respond to stories in the Daily News and ProPublica revealing how delays can harm criminal defendants and crime victims alike.
Susan M. Carney, chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, said in February that the system was “not meeting expectations — our own or Alaskans’” when it comes to the swift execution of justice. The next month, the court ordered new restrictions on pretrial continuances.
But Gray said that beyond the court order, it will take new resources to meet the goal of resolving more cases quickly. The court system’s own standard for speedy trials sets a 120-day deadline, which is rarely met.
(Gray, in an interview, and Carney, in her speech to the Legislature, both noted that the median time to resolve less serious charges is far faster than for the most serious felonies: Class B misdemeanors — crimes such as criminal mischief or shoplifting — are closed within a median of about four months, Carney said.)
Victim advocates, attorneys and judges told the newsrooms that Alaska has grappled with increasing delays for decades.
Gray said lawmakers, who write the state spending plan and started a new legislative session on Tuesday, should include additional funding to reduce the caseloads carried by prosecutors and public defenders.
“I don’t know exactly what the number is, but it will be a big one,” Gray said. “And yes, I would absolutely advocate for that.”
120 Days
Alaska’s speedy-trial deadline.
1,124 Days
The median time it took for the most serious category of felony cases to be resolved in Alaska in 2025. That’s more than twice as long as in 2015.
Retired Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Niesje Steinkruger, who worked as a public defender and assistant attorney general, agreed that inadequate staffing places a strain on attorneys on both sides who are being pushed to resolve cases faster.
“It puts those lawyers in just an awful position. They are type A personalities: They want to do the best that they can.”
Jacqueline Shepherd, an attorney who has tracked pretrial delays and does pro bono work for the ACLU of Alaska, agreed about the need for more front-line attorneys. According to a 1998 audit for the Legislature, public defenders can “ethically” handle no more than 59 cases at a time. Shepherd said some public defenders in Anchorage are asked to juggle 140 to 170. “Obviously, they are overloaded,” she …
Alaska Lawmaker Calls for Hiring More Prosecutors, Public Defenders to Reduce Extreme Delay in Criminal Cases
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
A top Alaska lawmaker said the state needs to hire twice as many prosecutors and public defenders if it wants to end the kind of extreme courtroom delays that the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica exposed over the past year.
Rep. Andrew Gray, chair of a legislative committee that holds jurisdiction over the Alaska court system, prosecutors and public defenders, said the news organizations’ stories of criminal cases delayed for years “stab my heart.” The time it takes to resolve Alaska’s most serious felony cases is three years, or more than twice as long as in 2015.
“I hate how slow this system is. It kills me,” Gray said.
The blame, he said, should not fall on the front-line attorneys but on the state of Alaska for failing to hire enough prosecutors and public defenders.
Gray is the latest official to respond to stories in the Daily News and ProPublica revealing how delays can harm criminal defendants and crime victims alike.
Susan M. Carney, chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, said in February that the system was “not meeting expectations — our own or Alaskans’” when it comes to the swift execution of justice. The next month, the court ordered new restrictions on pretrial continuances.
But Gray said that beyond the court order, it will take new resources to meet the goal of resolving more cases quickly. The court system’s own standard for speedy trials sets a 120-day deadline, which is rarely met.
(Gray, in an interview, and Carney, in her speech to the Legislature, both noted that the median time to resolve less serious charges is far faster than for the most serious felonies: Class B misdemeanors — crimes such as criminal mischief or shoplifting — are closed within a median of about four months, Carney said.)
Victim advocates, attorneys and judges told the newsrooms that Alaska has grappled with increasing delays for decades.
Gray said lawmakers, who write the state spending plan and started a new legislative session on Tuesday, should include additional funding to reduce the caseloads carried by prosecutors and public defenders.
“I don’t know exactly what the number is, but it will be a big one,” Gray said. “And yes, I would absolutely advocate for that.”
120 Days
Alaska’s speedy-trial deadline.
1,124 Days
The median time it took for the most serious category of felony cases to be resolved in Alaska in 2025. That’s more than twice as long as in 2015.
Retired Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Niesje Steinkruger, who worked as a public defender and assistant attorney general, agreed that inadequate staffing places a strain on attorneys on both sides who are being pushed to resolve cases faster.
“It puts those lawyers in just an awful position. They are type A personalities: They want to do the best that they can.”
Jacqueline Shepherd, an attorney who has tracked pretrial delays and does pro bono work for the ACLU of Alaska, agreed about the need for more front-line attorneys. According to a 1998 audit for the Legislature, public defenders can “ethically” handle no more than 59 cases at a time. Shepherd said some public defenders in Anchorage are asked to juggle 140 to 170. “Obviously, they are overloaded,” she …
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