WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — October 14, 2014 — Editor's Note: In April 2013, Saving Seafood published a press release from the Alaska Department of Law detailing felony charges filed against an Alaska couple for perjury and violations of Alaska fisheries law ("Seward, Alaska Husband and Wife Indicted for Perjury and Commercial Fishing Violations"). It was recently brought to our attention that, at a trial held earlier this year, the couple, James and Rhonda Hubbard, were fully exonerated of all charges. In the interest of a maintaining a full and complete record of the proceedings, below is an excerpt from an April 2014 story from the Seward City News about the acquital:
April 16, 2014 (Seward City News) — At about 8:00 pm on Tuesday the 15, a jury of 12 returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty on all 12 counts against James T. Hubbard and Rhonda K. Anderson-Hubbard, who own J&R Fisheries and operate F/V Kruzof. On the most serious charge of attempted perjury, the jury could not agree that Mr. Hubbard’s actions satisfied all four conditions needed for a guilty verdict. On the misdemeanors of falsifying information on fish tickets, the jurors could not agree that the Hubbards intended to deceive anyone. State of Alaska has not announced whether it will pursue the matter further on appeal.
The morning after the verdict, Mrs. Hubbard said, “I’m heartened by the people [the jurors] who took the time for us.”
Hubbard said that after the verdict, one juror thanked the Hubbards for “fighting for us”. The jury deliberated for about 4 hours after spending about 7 days hearing witnesses and considering evidence. State of Alaska pays them $25 a day, but not for the first day.
Juror Bobby Dunno, a diesel instructor at Alaska Vocational Technical Center related some of the jury’s grappling with the charge of attempted perjury. According to Carol Holley, Assistant Attorney General in the State of Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions who prosecuted the case, the jury had to find that Mr. Hubbard did four things to have committed the crime. He had to have (one) knowingly made a sworn statement (two) that statement must be false (three) he had to know the statement was false and (four) he had to have taken a substantial step regarding the subject of the statements. In this case, Mr. Hubbard made statements about whether he bought fish from other licensed fishermen on his boat. Dunno said the jury thought that Hubbard made a true statement and must have regarded it as true.
Read the full story at the Seward City News
Read more about the trial here
Read a statement from Jim and Rhonda Hubbard here