Former Alaska Acting Attorney General Goes To Court For Sexual Abuse Of Minor

Alaska’s former acting attorney general appeared in a courtroom in Anchorage on Thursday to attend hearings on three serious sexual abuse charges against the petty charges that forced him to resign two years ago.

Clyde “Ed” Sniffen, 59, who served as acting attorney general for about five months from August 2020 to January 2021, allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old girl he coached on the Anchorage High School moot court team. has been accused of 1991.

At Thursday’s testimony hearing, Sniffen sat at the defense’s table on the third floor of Nesvet Court, where two detectives and Nicky White, a woman who came forward with allegations of abuse publicly in 2021, spoke out about the case. I watched you answer questions.

Sniffen, who was appointed as permanent attorney general by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, will be released in 2021 as Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica prepared an article detailing allegations of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl. I resigned abruptly at the end of January. Deployed 30 years ago.

White proceeded with the motion after hearing that Sniffen was expected to remain the state’s chief prosecutor on a permanent basis. Sniffen said that in 1991 West was coaching the practice test competition team at Anchorage High School. He was 27 years old at the time.

Her relationship with Sniffen became sexual when she was 17 when she traveled to New Orleans for a mock exam competition. Said. The sexual relationship continued for several years after they returned to Anchorage, she told reporters.

At Thursday’s hearing, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Erin Marston said Sniffen’s attorney, Jeffrey Robinson, and special prosecutor Greg Olson, with White, dated back to the 1990s and another with more recent cases. I heard him question two detectives involved in

The testimony focused primarily on details already made public in court documents, such as a police report filed in 1994. That’s when one of her detectives launched an investigation after White’s therapist filed a homosexual abuse allegation.

White declined to be interviewed by authorities, saying he didn’t have enough power to pursue an investigation at the time. Another detective then began investigating the allegations.

White, who testified on Zoom Thursday, appeared measured as she answered questions from prosecutors and Sniffen’s defense attorney.

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Sniffen was never arrested on the charges and initially appeared in court at the June convocation. Although he did not have to post bail, he was ordered to notify the court of his out-of-state travel and not to contact White or discuss the case with witnesses.

A state investigation into the allegations spanned more than a year. Sniffen said he was indicted in May, and in September he was indicted by an Anchorage grand jury.

The age of consent in Alaska is usually 16, but the law states that it is illegal for an adult to have sex with a 16- or 17-year-old child who is teaching, counseling, or coaching.

Sniffen’s attorney, Robinson, has filed two motions to dismiss the case.

Robinson said in the allegation that the lengthy delay between the allegation of abuse and the filing of an accusation violated Sniffen’s right to due process and was outside the limits’ guidelines, and therefore allowed the accusation to be filed. It wrote that it should be rejected. The state opposed one of the motions. Olson said he plans to challenge the second bill next week.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for January 24th.

After the hearing, Sniffen declined to speak directly to reporters and turned his questions to his lawyers. Robinson said he could not comment on details as the case was ongoing.

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