ALASKA SUPERIOR COURT

A seven-year-long case involving the death of two Unalaska teen girls has come to a close, after the state dropped charges against 25-year-old Dustin Ruckman on Wednesday.

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.