ALASKA SUPERIOR COURT

The Aleutians East Borough, the Native Village of Unga and two Aleutian fishing groups are asking a state court to void fishing regulations adopted at a February state Board of Fisheries meeting.

Seven years and two trials later, there is still no verdict in the case involving a fatal car crash on Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo.

Attorneys provided closing arguments Tuesday afternoon in the retrial for 25-year-old Dustin Ruckman.

After a deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial last spring and various failed attempts to go to trial, 25-year-old Dustin Ruckman is once again facing two counts of criminally negligent homicide.

Challenges and setbacks have plagued the case for years, including COVID-19 restrictions, postponements due to Ruckman’s original defense attorney undergoing cancer treatment and an earlier judge overseeing the case recusing himself.

The retrial of a 2019 Unalaska crash that killed two teens began Monday, when the court considered new photos and videos discovered after a mistrial earlier this year.

The criminal case involving a fatal 2019 car crash on Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo will go to trial next month, for the second time.

The State of Alaska will retry Dustin Ruckman in a fatal 2019 Unalaska car crash, following a hung jury mistrial earlier this year. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews scheduled a tentative April 2026 trial date for Ruckman during a status hearing Tuesday, though Matthews said his goal is to have the retrial sooner.

A group of Anchorage jurors was unable to come to a unanimous decision in a nearly six-year long homicide case. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews declared a mistrial Friday morning for a young man involved in a 2019 Unalaska car crash case. Following more than three days of deliberation and over a week in trial, 24-year-old Dustin Ruckman was not convicted for his involvement in the deaths of two Unalaska teen girls, but he also hasn’t been acquitted.

The fate of a young man behind the wheel in a fatal 2019 Unalaska car crash is now in the hands of an Anchorage jury. Dustin Ruckman, 24, faces two counts of criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of two Unalaska teen girls.