After nearly four years, the sexual assault case against a former Juneau chiropractor is slated to go to trial April 21.
Jeffrey Fultz is accused of assaulting more than a dozen women under the guise of medical care. Police arrested Fultz in 2021 based on initial accusations that he had assaulted three patients while he was a chiropractor for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium.
More women have come forward since, and he now faces 18 felony sexual assault charges and one misdemeanor harassment charge. Some of the alleged crimes date back more than a decade.
According to Assistant District Attorney Jessalyn Gillum, several factors have delayed the trial over the years, including the case’s complexity, the number of witnesses and a backlog of criminal cases in Juneau leftover from the pandemic, when in-person trials were put on hold.
In the time the case has been awaiting trial, the first judge assigned to the case retired, the investigating Juneau police officer died and Fultz’s first attorney was deemed “mentally unable” to continue with the case.
Fultz hired his current attorney, James Christie, in January of last year.
The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica reported early this year that felony cases in Alaska often face years of delays requested by defense attorneys and approved by judges.
Fultz’s case was finally scheduled to begin trial in February, but was delayed yet again as the court continues to process and release outstanding records.
Due to new limitations established by the Alaska Supreme Court, cases filed before 2023 will have a limit of 270 days before they must go to trial starting in May.
The order says the defense and prosecution are each allotted 90 days of delay requests, and a further 90 days is included for “other periods of delay for good cause.” If Fultz’s case is delayed further, it would be subject to that ruling.
Fultz has been living in Colorado since he posted bail three years ago. He has made one in-person appearance in Juneau court since.
In early 2021, the Indian Health Services established a hotline for callers to report suspected sexual abuse by calling 1-855-SAFE-IHS (855-723-3447) or submitting a complaint online on the IHS.gov website. The hotline may be used to report any type of suspected child abuse within the IHS, or any type of sexual abuse regardless of the age of the victim. The person reporting by phone or online may remain anonymous.
Locally, people can call AWARE in Juneau at (907) 586-1090.
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