U.S. Supreme Court to Review Challenge to Alaska Plane Forfeiture After Alcohol Conviction

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to review claims by Alaska pilot Kenneth Jouppi that state authorities violated the Eighth Amendment by attempting to seize his $95,000 airplane. Jouppi, now in his 80s, was convicted after a passenger carried a six-pack of beer aboard a flight to the dry village of Beaver.

In April 2012 he prepared to fly the passenger from Fairbanks to Beaver, where alcohol is banned. State troopers searched the plane and found the beer in a shopping bag. Jouppi, his company and the passenger faced misdemeanor charges of knowingly transporting alcohol into a dry community.

The passenger pleaded guilty. A jury convicted Jouppi and the company. A judge sentenced him to three days in jail. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the 1969 Cessna was subject to criminal forfeiture.

Jouppi argues the seizure would violate the Excessive Fines Clause. “I’m in my 80s now, and I’ve been fighting this for over a decade because I see it as my duty to ensure that the Bill of Rights actually means something in protecting against government overreach,” Jouppi said in a statement released by his attorneys at the Institute for Justice.

Alaska’s attorneys countered that alcohol abuse is a serious problem in rural Alaska and that airplanes are sometimes the only realistic means to commit the crime of alcohol importation.

They said the state high court’s decision was fact-bound and that Jouppi had not shown the forfeiture was grossly disproportional to the offense. Oral arguments are expected in the fall.