Alaska judge’s cases under review after discovery of sexualized relationships with prosecutors

Federal prosecutors in Alaska are reviewing nearly two dozen criminal cases for potential conflicts of interest after revelations that a U.S. District Court judge had sexualized relationships with attorneys who appeared before him.

That’s according to a letter from the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office to the Federal Public Defender, obtained by Alaska Public Media, that includes a list of 23 cases assigned to former Judge Joshua Kindred that are under review.

Kindred abruptly resigned July 3, just four years into a lifetime appointment in 2020 by then-President Donald Trump.

Days later, on July 8, the Judicial Council for the Ninth Circuit released a 30-page order detailing Kindred’s inappropriate relationship with one of his law clerks, who went on to become a federal prosecutor. It also included an account of another federal prosecutor who sent Kindred nude photos and mentioned a private attorney with whom Kindred was said to have engaged in sexualized texts.

According to the order, which is based on a judicial conduct investigation that started in November of 2022, Kindred had also created a more generally hostile work environment in his office.

The allegations put Kindred’s impartiality in question. Defense attorneys say the secret and inappropriate relationships he had with prosecutors might’ve led to unfair rulings against their clients.

At least one defendant not on the list of cases under review has asked for a new trial, citing information in the Judicial Council’s order.

The Federal Public Defender for Alaska, Jamie McGrady, said in a July 17 letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office that the federal prosecutors should have disclosed the potential for conflicts of interest much sooner, after learning of the allegations in November of 2022.

McGrady declined to comment for this story. But in the letter she described the lack of disclosure as a “willful suppression of information.”

The result, McGrady wrote, is that some defendants who would have been owed legal recourse have already reached the conclusion of their perhaps tainted cases, including some who’ve been serving their sentences.

“That result is even more troubling than the improper relationships at the heart of the conflicts,” McGrady wrote.

The Public Defender’s Office is conducting its own investigation and is prepared to litigate the issue further if its clients appear to have been treated unfairly, McGrady wrote.

A spokesperson for the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office declined an interview request with U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker and on Tuesday sent the following statement:

“This office has obligations to disclose potential conflicts of interest. When the office learned of misconduct allegations, the United States Attorney reported the information to the appropriate disciplinary authorities responsible for investigating the veracity of the allegations. We will continue to fully comply with all obligations, and will supplement our disclosures as required.”

Retired Public Defender Rich Curtner, who served in the role for 24 years, said he suspects there will be challenges to more cases than the 23 on the federal prosecutors’ list.

Curtner described the allegations against Kindred as, not just opening a can of worms, but a “landfill of worms.”

“It was really shocking to me when I heard all these allegations and how extensive they were,” Curtner said. “Absolutely it’s unprecedented. I mean, I’ve never even seen or heard anything like this happen in a federal court.”