Former Alaska Rep. LeDoux’s election misconduct case ends in a mistrial with a hung jury

Former Anchorage Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux’s long-delayed election misconduct case ended Monday with a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.

State prosecutors could retry the case. Patty Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Law, said prosecutors would make a decision at a later date.

LeDoux, a Republican former state legislator, in 2020 was accused by state prosecutors of encouraging people who did not live in her district to vote for her in the 2014 and 2018 primary and general elections. The charges followed a two-year state investigation.

LeDoux faced 12 charges of election misconduct that included five felonies. She pleaded not guilty.

The nine-day trial concluded Wednesday. It centered on two of LeDoux’s associates who pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge each of voter misconduct: Lisa (Vaught) Simpson, a former campaign aide, and Simpson’s son Caden Vaught. Both testified against her.

LeDoux, who was first elected to the state House in 2004, asserted on the stand that she believed Simpson and Vaught were residents in her district.

The jury had been set to deliberate Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — but Sullivan said that scheduling conflicts meant jury deliberations were delayed until Monday.

Sullivan said by email Monday evening that a note was passed to Anchorage Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby indicating that the jury was deadlocked. A short while later, Sullivan said by email that Saxby had declared a mistrial because of a hung jury.

The jury was deadlocked on all 12 counts.

According to Alaska criminal law, all 12 jurors need to reach a unanimous decision on each charge to reach a guilty verdict.

State prosecutors could try the case against LeDoux again. Sullivan said by email that prosecutors “will review the matter and decide whether to retry the case.”

Reached by phone Monday evening, Kevin Fitzgerald, LeDoux’s defense attorney, said a trial conference was planned for Jan. 6. At that time, the state will need to have determined if it will retry the case, he said.

Between then and now, Fitzgerald said he would work to convince state prosecutors “that they should do the right thing and dismiss the case.”