Jury selection rescheduled for September in fatal Unalaska car crash trial

After another delay in the five-year case, jury selection is back on the calendar for the trial involving a fatal Unalaska car crash.

A jury is set to be selected next month in the criminal case against the driver of the vehicle, 23-year-old Dustin Ruckman. Police say Ruckman, a high schooler at the time, said he was thrown from his truck when it plummeted down the Ulakta Head Cliff side of Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo on May 9, 2019. Karly McDonald, 16, and Kiara R. Haist, 18, were in the vehicle when it fell nearly 900 feet down the cliff. Both girls were ejected from the car and died in the crash.

Police say Ruckman suffered minor injuries. He is being charged with counts of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless driving.

The court was scheduled to select a jury for the trial last month, but Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews postponed the selection at a July status hearing after the state said new information had been found and needed to be reviewed.

According to state prosecutor Patrick McKay Jr., the Unalaska Police Department found a drawer of materials that they hadn’t submitted. He told the court that there was also some digital evidence from the FBI that hadn’t been included.

Altogether, there could be hundreds of gigabytes of information, some of which could be new and should be evaluated, he told the court.

At a status hearing Aug. 2, Judge Matthews rescheduled jury selection for September. It will take place in Unalaska.

The court will need 12 residents to serve on the jury and four alternates. If they can find enough impartial jurors, the case will go to trial at the end of September, according to an Unalaska Courthouse clerk. If not, they will have to redo the jury selection process in Anchorage.

Another status hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19.

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