Kohring makes motion for trial outside Alaska

MAT-SU — Former Wasilla representative Vic Kohring has filed a request for a change of venue in his pending re-trial on corruption charges.

Kohring’s attorney Michael Filipovic writes in a 24-page motion filed in U.S. Superior Court last week that his client would not receive a fair trial if jurors had to be selected in Alaska. He presents four reasons:

“(1) While Alaska is large in physical size, the jury pool is small; (2) the publicity in this case has not only been intense and negative towards Mr. Kohring, it has gone on for almost five years; (3) during the course of the litigation … the former trial judge made damaging comments concerning the strength of the government’s case which were widely reported … and (4) because Mr. Kohring’s case was part of a larger investigation into the entire political establishment in Alaska, it certainly drew the attention of the voting public, the very group of citizens who will be called to sit as jurors.”

Kohring was charged with extortion and bribery in May 2007. At trial, prosecutors showed video of him accepting cash from Bill Allen, CEO of the now-defunct oilfield services company VECO. Kohring argued at trial that the money was a gift. The jury sided with the prosecution on three of the four counts and reached a verdict Nov. 1, 2007. But Kohring and a number of other convicted lawmakers were freed from prison after it came to light that prosecutors had withheld evidence in their broad-ranging investigation.

Starting with the first point he made in his motion — Filipovic argues that 522,853 people in Alaska are eligible for jury duty, 216,040 in Anchorage. He cites a U.S. Supreme Court case that shows the size of a community should be taken into account, since larger communities have a deeper pool of jurors to draw from and are thus more likely to contained unbiased potential jurors.

The second point, about the publicity, is illustrated in Filipovic’s motion with numerous citations of television and newspaper stories.

“One television broadcast characterized the videotape of Mr. Kohring in the Baranof Hotel room as ‘the grainy images Alaskans have come to associate with political corruption,’” Filipovic writes. “Mr. Kohring has also been the subject of recent lampooning in the district he formerly represented. Recent cartoons in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman portray him alternately as a rat and as a legislator who was ‘bought for $200 instead of $2,000.’”

Filipovic writes that those articles, newscasts and cartoons continue to appear in Alaska media since, with periodic updates as the process of deciding whether and how to retry Kohring winds its way through the court system.

“While some articles have arguable constituted neutral reporting, others have expressed definite views about Mr. Kohring’s guilt and the weight of the evidence, both before and after the Ninth Circuit’s ruling vacating his convictions,” the attorney writes.

As for the trial judge’s statements, Filipovic sites numerous stories that quote Judge John Sedwick’s words in striking down one of Kohring’s motions.

“For anyone who might somehow entertain a lingering doubt about Kohring’s guilt, there is Kohring’s voice mail message to (VECO executive Rick) Smith left the next day in which he reported in some detail on what he had done to follow up on the plan to influence other legislators,” Sedwick wrote.

As for the last claim — Filipovic cites numerous articles which discuss other lawmakers’ trials and charges, but which also mention Kohring.

“Following his conviction and sentencing in 2008, which were also reported on, Mr. Kohring’s name has stayed a constant in the news. One reason has been the ongoing investigations, indictments and sentences for other persons targeted in the so-called ‘Polar Pen’ investigation,” Filipovic writes.

Prosecutors have not yet responded to the motion and the judge has not made a decision. Change-of-venue motions are common in cases with heavy media attention. Indeed, there have been a number filed in the various corruption investigations. Kohring himself asked for the trial in which he was eventually convicted to be moved to Washington state. That request was denied, which is the most common fate of change-of-venue motions.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.