The Alaska Parole Board puts vengeance above the law

UPDATE (Posted March 8, 2022): Edie Grunwald has resigned from the Alaska Parole Board to run for Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Grunwald will run in support of the gubernatorial campaign of Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce.

Evidence continues to mount that the Alaska Parole Board and Chair Edith Grunwald stand as a brick wall between inmates who have paid their debt to society and a chance at mercy.

An Alaska Superior Court judge has ordered a new parole hearing for a man convicted of murder in 1983 after finding the parole board “disregarded” his orders when it failed to provide sufficient reasoning for keeping 63-year-old Michael Stephens in prison.

Judge Michael MacDonald wrote that the board failed to abide by his 2017 order that said it must provide compelling evidence to support its claims that Stephens presents a danger to the public and that releasing him would diminish the severity of his crime.

“The board’s most recent decision is not based on substantial evidence,” MacDonald wrote in a 31-page decision handed down Monday. “To the contrary, every statutory factor to be considered is supported by evidence that favors Stephens’ release.”

MacDonald does not have the power to release Stephens, but ordered the board must grant parole unless it can adequately explain why he should remain behind bars.

Stephens, 63, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1983 after pleading no contest in the 1982 beating death of Brian Alt in Fairbanks after the men had consensual sex. In his summary of the case, MacDonald noted that Stephens has taken responsibility for his actions and expressed remorse for the killing.

MacDonald further notes that Stephens was subjected to gay conversion therapy as a youth and there is evidence he committed the crime “as a result of blind rage that was fueled by self-hatred and deep shame, stemming from the heavy stigma attached to his sexuality at that time in history.”

During more than four decades in prison, Stephens has completed more than 60 rehabilitation, counseling and apprenticeship programs. He’s had just three disciplinary actions while incarcerated, the last coming in 2004. He’s classified as a minimum security prisoner.

Department of Corrections probation staff have recommended him for parole and a prison psychologist found Stephens has expressed remorse and is unlikely to reoffend. There have been no calls from victim advocates to oppose his release during previous hearings.

Stephens first applied for parole in 2015, citing a number of favorable factors — including his nonviolent prison record, young age at the time of his offense and extensive programming and counseling while in prison. The board denied his application, saying he could reapply in five years. But in 2017 MacDonald found that decision wasn’t sufficiently supported and ordered a new hearing.

Stephens was again eligible for parole when his next probation hearing was held in 2020, at which time the issue of whether the board would take up the case anew or address the flaws in its 2015 decision was never settled. Stephens’ attorney asked the board which would be the case, but Grunwald seemed unfamiliar with the order and had “little comprehension of, or regard for this court’s decision,” MacDonald wrote.

“…It appears that this court’s decision received only a cursory review, if it was read at all, and that it was not taken as a direct Superior Court order.”

The board proceeded with the hearing, which saw Stephens present additional evidence supporting his release, including the completion of a 48-week offender program. He also presented the board with a release plan as well as a psychological evaluation that found him unlikely to reoffend.

Despite this evidence, the board not only denied Stephens’ petition but said he couldn’t apply again for 10 years.

In his ruling, MacDonald also rendered this decision invalid, saying the board couldn’t arbitrarily double the length of time between hearings from five to ten years.

Whether Stephens will be granted parole is still uncertain. Despite the judge’s decision that he’s eligible for release, the board could still keep him in prison — a decision that would likely result in another appeal.

What is clear, however, is that the Alaska Parole Board appears dead set against granting parole in even the most compelling of cases. Michael Stephens has now served more than 40 years in prison for a crime of passion committed when he was in his early 20s.

As noted in MacDonald’s decision, Stephens has served well into the presumptive sentencing range for his crime and releasing him back into the public does not diminish the crime. He’s taken responsibility for his actions and as he enters old age is asking for a second shot at life.

That’s a chance his victim never got, and that’s not fair. It never will be. But for as many years as Michael Stephens lives, he’ll be haunted until the day he dies — whether that life is lived as a free man or as an old man living out his days at a minimum security prison.

The role of the Alaska Parole Board isn’t to mete out punishment, it’s to offer wisdom when needed and mercy when appropriate. Unfortunately for Stephens and anyone who supports the United States Constitution, the board is chaired by a victims rights advocate who has made it clear her mission to deny parole to anyone who comes before her.

When Grunwald was appointed to lead the board in 2019 by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, many questioned her fitness to lead the board. Grunwald became a household name in Alaska after the murder of her 16-year-old son, David, in 2016, and while serving as a spokesperson for the family used her platform to advocate for victims’ rights and fight for tougher crime laws in Alaska.

Since her appointment, the board has granted fewer discretionary parole requests than in its history, with just 16% of inmates who applied for discretionary parole granted release in 2020, according to Alaska Public Media.

Dunleavy likes to portray himself as a “tough-on-crime” politician, and it’s his prerogative to work toward that end.

But it’s clear that the only reason Edith Grunwald remains chair of the Alaska Parole Board is to stand in opposition to any and all parole requests — including those of people who have been found eligible by virtually everyone who has taken the time to honestly look at their case. That’s unfair and demonstrates again why she’s the wrong person for the job.

It’s time for Grunwald to step aside and allow someone to lead the board whose decisions won’t be clouded by a desire for vengeance.

This column is the opinion of Matt Tunseth, a freelance writer from Anchorage, Alaska. He has previously written for numerous newspapers in Alaska, including the (Kenai) Peninsula Clarion, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Chugiak-Eagle River Star, Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News.