Cori Mills, the state’s acting attorney general, said in a statement that, after reviewing the decision and applying the facts, prosecutors determined that they could not prove their claims against Smith and the other defendants beyond a reasonable doubt.
Alaska prosecutors have dropped voter misconduct charges against a group of residents born in American Samoa after an appeals court dismissed a felony case against a woman who’d wrongly marked a box indicating that she was a U.S. citizen.
According to The Guardian, the Alaska Department of Law announced the decision last Friday after a three-judge appellate panel ruled that state law requires proof that defendants who erroneously fill out voter registration forms had “consciousness of wrongdoing” and had actually intended to break elections rules.
As part of its decision-making process, the panel pointed toward a state trooper’s investigation of Tupe Smith, the woman who’d earlier faced felony charges, as well as the grand jury process that led to her indictment. The judges also overturned a lower court decision allowing the state to continue pursuing charges against her.
Cori Mills, the state’s acting attorney general, said in a statement that, after reviewing the decision and applying the facts, prosecutors determined that they could not prove their claims against Smith and the other defendants beyond a reasonable doubt.
“We respect the role of the courts in interpreting Alaska law and will faithfully execute our duty to apply the law and carefully review our prosecutorial decisions,” Mills said.
Smith’s attorney, Whitney Brown, celebrated the appeals court’s ruling, saying that it “establishes an important safeguard against imposing felony liability for an honest mistake.”
Neil Weare, who also represented Smith along with another defendant, said the state’s decision to drop charges “raises questions about why this prosecution was even brough to begin with.”
“It’s clear that, all along, they really had no evidence of any consciousness of wrongdoing on the part of … defendants,” Weare said.
All of the defendants involved in the case live or lived in Whittier, a semi-isolated community about 60 miles south of Anchorage. The non-profit Pacific Community of Alaska had earlier urged the attorney general’s office not to pursue criminal charges, arguing that even local officials in Whittier—along with their counterparts at the state level—have expressed marked confusion about whether Samoans are entitled to vote in American elections. In some cases, officials even appear to have explicitly told Samoa-born residents that they are entitled to cast a ballot.
The Associated Press notes that American Samoa is the only overseas U.S. territory wherein residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil. Instead, they are simply considered U.S. nationals. This means that they can serve in the military and obtain U.S. passports for travel abroad—but they cannot hold public office within the continental United States or otherwise participate in most federal elections.
Sources
10 Alaskans born in American Samoa plead not guilty in voting case highlighting citizenship issues
Alaska drops cases against American Samoans who checked ‘US citizen’ on voter form
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