Senator French concerned about Department of Law's contradictory statements on House Bill 80

JUNEAU-Senator Hollis French, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is questioning why the state’s Department of Law has dramatically changed its position on House Bill 80. Known as the “Stand Your Ground Bill”, House Bill 80 would change self-defense laws to allow Alaskans to use deadly force “in any place where the person has a right to be.” Under current law, a person encountering a threatening situation has a “duty to retreat” if it is safe to do so. House Bill 80, currently being considered by the Senate Finance Committee, would remove that requirement.

“I am interested in the Administration’s sudden shift in position on this legislation,” said Senator French. “It is unsettling to me that in just two years, under the same Administration, the Department of Law blatantly contradicts itself and the testimony of its own Attorney General at the time.”

Senator French says he became concerned after receiving a letter from current Attorney General Michael Geraghty, which laid out the Department’s support for House Bill 80. In response, Senator French sent a letter to Attorney General Geraghty, outlining the conflicting statements between the Department’s current views and those expressed two years ago.

In his letter to Attorney General Geraghty, Senator French points out that the Legislature considered an identical bill to House Bill 80 in 2010. As part of that discussion, on March 15^th, 2010, then Attorney General Dan Sullivan submitted a letter to then Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Jay Ramras, stating “Whatever source one thinks our laws should be drawn from- the ten commandments which say ‘thou shalt not kill,’ simple morality, utilitarianism principles of the greater good, or simply the concept that life is sacred – this bill would encourage the needless taking of human life.” Sullivan goes on to argue the proposed legislation would not help innocent Alaskans trying to defend themselves, but would instead encourage unnecessary violence.

Sullivan’s letter to Representative Ramras isn’t the only time the Department of Law came out against the proposed legislation. In April of 2010, Sue McLean, the Director of the Criminal Division of the Department of Law at that time, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reiterating that the Department of Law opposes the legislation because, under current statutes, the state already has the burden of proving that a person was not acting in self-defense. To read those committee minutes, click here.

For more information, please contact Cindy Smith in Senator French’s office at (907) 465-3892.

Source: Office of Senator Hollis French