Alaska seized a $95,000 plane over illicit cargo: A six-pack of beer

Seattle Times from NY Times ^ | September 28, 2025 | Adam Liptak

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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.

[Telepathic Intruder]

He must have been taking quite a risk.

[Svartalfiar]

Sounds like a violation of the 8th amendment:

Once upon a time horse thieves were hanged. How is that any different than this chain of judges trying to steal this guy's plane?

[BDParrish]

Not really.
Beware of taking Hollywood movie tropes as fact.
The last person legally hanged for horse theft was in England in 1820 IIRC.
There were lynchings I think but I don’t know how rarely it happened.