From now until the end of the fiscal year in June, Haines will once again have a resident magistrate – thanks to the community spirit of retired district court judge Linn Asper.

The new magistrate judge began hearing cases on Monday.

Asper, 72, who has for years kept a home here and served as the Haines magistrate judge for six years in the 1990s, said he felt compelled to do something to stem the legal void brought on by the Alaska government’s long series of public service cuts.

Following the recent retirement of Haines Magistrate Judge John Hutchins, the Alaska Court System announced the position would be filled by Yakutat Magistrate Judge Mary Kay Germain – who was assigned to fly into Haines for one week per month.

That didn’t sit right with Asper, who believed Haines deserved a more regular judicial presence.

“I just didn’t like the feel of it,” he said. “The decision didn’t service Haines. How can you run a court here with a magistrate judge who comes in from Yakutat?”

Under the present arrangement, which is designed to manage ongoing budget cuts, Germain holds court in Haines and Hoonah for one week a month and conducts all other hearings by telephone from Yakutat.

(State cuts also have reduced Haines’ public health positions, Lynn Canal Counseling Services and the local forestry office.)

Magistrate judges are responsible for a variety of judicial tasks, including issuing arrest and search warrants, setting bail and conducting preliminary hearings, handling misdemeanor and minor-offense cases, and issuing marriage licenses.

Asper, who spent years as a lawyer and judge in the South Pacific, said he recently called Hutchins to inquire about how he might replace him.

When told the picture wasn’t clear, Asper contacted the First Judicial District and offered his services. He is scheduled to hold court three mornings each week and hear cases on one afternoon a month. He may or may not hear jury trials.

The arrangement will last until the end of fiscal year 2016 and then be reviewed.

Asper served as a district court judge in Juneau from 1984 until 1989 but then decided to return to Haines for personal reasons. “We wanted our son to attend Haines High School,” he said.

He took a position here as magistrate judge until he retired in 1995. The difference between the two positions is that district court judges must have law degrees and are appointed by the governor.

Asper then moved to Micronesia, where he opened a private law practice and served as an administrative law judge in Saipan.

In the last three years, Germain said, Alaska courts have endured budget cuts totaling more than $10 million. She says she has done the best she can as a part-time judicial presence.

“We’ve had a court presence here,” said the 62-year-old Germain. “We haven’t suffered doing things by phone. In fact, we’ve had hearings over the years with prosecutors and defense attorneys and even defendants phoning in. The judge phoning in is just another step in that process.”

She also denied that prosecutors were more likely to plead down or drop cases due to the fact that a magistrate judge was not in residence in Haines.

This year, the Haines court has heard 76 criminal cases and 300 minor offense cases. “Compared to Yakutat and Hoonah, Haines just has a lot more volume,” she said.

She called the decision to bring in Asper a good one for the community, which had criticized having a part-time magistrate. Said Germain: “I’m still assigned here as the backup.”

Germain said that having a judge telephone in to a hearing did not prejudice defendants and might even play to their favor. “You’re not making judgments based on their looks,” she said. “You’re listening to what they’re saying.”

On Monday, his first day back on the job, there weren’t any cases to hear, so Asper did some paperwork. In the wilds of the Pacific, Asper was involved in some pretty exotic cases, including representing a defendant snagged in a prostitution case in the country of Palau.

But now he’s back home. While he says it’s hard to “sit in judgment of people you know,” Haines’ old/new magistrate judge is ready to get to work hearing cases.

“I think it will be fine,” he said. “I’d come back from Saipan and work here as a lawyer. I’m no stranger to this court.”

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