American Samoan’s indictment reversed

Filed 15h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Heavy Heart

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Rijksmuseum · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

The Alaska Court of Appeals reversed the indictment of an American Samoa-born woman charged with voter misconduct, finding the lower court wrongly denied her motion to dismiss.

She is a U.S. national, not a citizen, but the Alaska voter registration form offered no box for that status, only 'U.S. citizen,' which she checked as instructed.

The appeals court found the grand jury received misleading testimony and an incorrect legal instruction on what counts as 'intentionally' swearing falsely.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

So the state handed her a form with only one box she could tick, then hauled her into court for ticking it. Anybody who has ever wrestled with a government form knows the feeling, though most of us don't get indicted over it. The cheapest fix here was a second box, and it still is.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Heavy Heart · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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