Editor’s note: This story originally reported the trial would begin Monday, July 14 due to a clerical error on the court system calendar. It actually begins Tuesday, July 15.
A new trial date has been set for the Juneau chiropractor arrested four years ago on multiple sexual assault charges. Jeffrey Fultz is accused of assaulting more than a dozen women under the guise of medical care. His trial is scheduled to start next Tuesday.
This is Fultz’ third trial date. It comes after nearly 50 hearings and numerous postponements. But at a pre-trial hearing Tuesday, the state prosecutor, judge and Fultz’s defense attorney all said they plan to avoid further delays.
A final pretrial hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Police arrested Fultz in 2021 based on seven initial accusations that he had assaulted patients while he was a chiropractor for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. Fultz now faces 15 felony sexual assault charges and one misdemeanor harassment charge.
Fultz has been living in Colorado since posting bail four years ago. He has made one in-person appearance in Juneau court since.
One of Fultz’s accusers, a woman the courts are identifying as C.E.L., said that she is relieved and grateful this case may finally go to trial.
“So many of us have lived in this limbo, and we’ve been unable to fully heal, because the system that promises accountability has kept stalling,” she said.
Several factors contributed to the delay. The investigating Juneau police officer died. The first judge assigned to the case retired. 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.
Fultz’s case was first scheduled to begin trial in February of this year but was delayed as the court continued to process and release outstanding records. Then, it was scheduled for a trial date in April but was delayed yet again when a member of the defense team experienced serious health issues.
Some of the charges Fultz faces date back to 2014.
“Once we get into trial, what we’ll see is that some of the victims, the harm happened to them 11 years ago,” C.E.L. said. “Like, that’s when Obama was in office.”
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.
Due to new limitations established by the Alaska Supreme Court, cases filed before 2023 now 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.”
C.E.L. said long delays can take a toll on alleged victims of assault.
“This idea that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ is absolutely true, and that every delay reinforces the idea that harm against victims isn’t urgent, isn’t serious,” C.E.L. said.
The trial is scheduled for a five-week time period, starting next Tuesday and lasting into August. Judge Larry Woolford will be presiding.
The public may attend proceedings in person in Courtroom A at Juneau’s Dimond Courthouse, or by phone.
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.
People who suspect they may be the victims of sexual abuse in Juneau can also call AWARE at (907) 586-1090.
