George Charles Carpenter v. State of Alaska

In the Court of Appeals of the State of Alaska
George Carpenter,
Petitioner,
v.
State of Alaska,
Respondent.
Court of Appeals No. A-13456
Order
Petition for Review
Date of Notice: 7/17/2019
Trial Court Case No. 3KN-19-00920CR
Before: Allard, Chief Judge, Wollenberg, and Harbison, Judges.
George Charles Carpenter is charged with first-degree burglary, second-
degree theft, and first-degree criminal trespass. At a bail hearing, the trial court approved
Carpenter’s parents as third-party custodians. The court also imposed, over Carpenter’s
objection, conditions of release that prohibited Carpenter from using alcohol or drugs
and that required him to submit to alcohol and drug testing. Carpenter objected to these
conditions on the ground that there was no nexus to the charged crimes. Carpenter
pointed out that the prosecutor had produced no evidence that alcohol or drugs were
involved in the charged offenses or that Carpenter had a history of substance abuse. The
prosecutor conceded that there was no nexus.
The trial court nevertheless imposed these alcohol/drug and testing
conditions based on a comment by Carpenter’s mother. Carpenter’s mother told the
court that she was going to take Carpenter to AA and NA meetings because he associates
with people who have issues with alcohol and drugs.

Carpenter v. State - p.2
File No. A-13456
July 17, 2019
Carpenter now petitions for review of the bail order, challenging the
alcohol and drug conditions. The State has filed a notice of no response to the petition.
The petition for review is GRANTED. Because there was no established
nexus between Carpenter’s conduct and the challenged conditions of release, those
conditions are VACATED.
Entered by direction of the court.
Clerk of the Appellate Courts
________________________________
Kyle Roberts, Deputy Clerk
cc: Court of Appeals Judges
Central Staff
Magistrate Judge Fallon
Distribution:
Mail:
Case, David A, Public Defender
Fenske, Amy H.