Posted on 09/29/2025 9:36:26 AM PDT by xxqqzz
WASHINGTON — Ken Jouppi, a bush pilot, was putting gas in his Cessna in Fairbanks, Alaska, on an April morning in 2012 when state troopers arrived. He was preparing to fly a client to Beaver, a remote village 110 miles to the north that prohibits alcohol.
“It was going to be a good day,” Jouppi, 82, an Air Force veteran, recalled last week.
But the encounter ended badly. The troopers found beer in the passenger’s luggage, and Jouppi was eventually found guilty of knowingly transporting alcohol into a dry community. He was sentenced to three days in jail and ordered to pay a $1,500 fine.
Prosecutors wanted one more thing: his plane, worth about $95,000. Because Jouppi had used it to commit his crime, they argued, it was subject to forfeiture. The Alaska Supreme Court agreed.
“He knowingly transported a six-pack of alcohol in plain view while acting in his professional capacity as the operator of an air taxi company and the pilot of the airplane,” Justice Jude Pate wrote for a unanimous court. “This factor suggests that the forfeiture of his airplane is not grossly disproportional.”
From 2013 Alaskan pilot may face $1M beer fine Jouppi, represented by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian legal group, asked the U.S. Supreme Court last month to hear his appeal. Although the case seems to present a substantial question in an area that has lately engaged the justices, the state waived its right to file a response.
In a sign that at least one justice is intrigued by the case, the court asked Alaska to file a brief. On Friday, its lawyers asked for an extension, saying they hoped to submit their response in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
A community may be able to prohibit the sale of alcohol, but how can they criminalize the possession of a legal substance?
http://localalcohollaws.com/index/205750/ak/beaver
Was the pilot or passenger caught drinking in public in the dry community? What law has been broken?
Ted Stevens/Lisa Murkowski crime family likely got a cut of the boodle.
This is true. Ride the back roads of NC. Isn’t any alcohol allowed in one county. . Next county over ABC stores all over the place.
The 8th amendment died in the J6 sentencing.
The 8th amendment died in the J6 sentencing.
The 8th amendment died in the J6 sentencing.
It sure is. I was a victim once.
Years ago, after 16 hours on the road from Michigan to Florida, I was wired and I finally had to pull off the freeway and find a motel in I think Georgia. I went up to the desk and asked where the bar was since I needed a drink and the clerk said it was a dry county and I had to drive several miles down the road to the next county and a party store.
We have several dry counties in Maryland; but I always thought it just isn’t sold in dry counties; not that you aren’t allowed to bring it in from elsewhere.
This case has gone on way too long. It is criminal overreach by government. They took his plane, refitted it, and have been using it for the State Troopers for years now. It’s sickening what government gets away with.
He was flying to a village and many villages are “dry”. I say that because bootleg liquor is huge in the villages.
He was flying to a village and many villages are “dry”. I say that because bootleg liquor is huge in the villages.
Been there done that. 😂
I hope it wasnt Colt45 my fav🤓
I hope it wasnt Colt45 my fav🤓
I hope it wasnt Colt45 my fav🤓
I hope it wasnt Colt45 my fav🤓
I hope it wasnt Colt45 my fav🤓
I hope it wasnt Colt45 my fav🤓
He should have used a black trans am instead of a plane. :).
I grew up in a dry town and every bordering town was “wet”. My dad would pay our mail man to bring a couple of cases of Narragansett Beer on Saturday to our house as his route went right up to the closest Packey store in the next town. This was back in the 60’s.
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