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The Alaska Judicial Council, in an apparent first, is not making a recommendation on whether voters should retain a judge, issuing a mixed performance evaluation on Wednesday for Juneau Superior Court Judge Marianna Carpeneti.

Carpeneti is facing her first retention election this fall after being appointed to the Juneau Superior Court in December 2021. The judicial council has previously recommended against retaining judges 12 times since it began issuing recommendations in 1976, but there is no known instance of the council not issuing a recomendation.

“Attorneys and court employees rated Judge Carpeneti’s impartiality and fairness as excellent. Social service professionals rated her impartiality and fairness as good. Peace and probation officers rated her as poor,” a performance summary published by the council notes.

Nearly identical assessments of Carpeneti were offered in the categories of legal ability, integrity, judicial temperament, and diligence and administrative skills.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Marianna Carpeneti. (Photo from Alaska Judicial Council retention report)

Attempts to contact Carpeneti for comment on Friday morning were not successful as of midday.

Susanne DiPietro, the judicial council’s executive director, said in an interview Friday, said four of the council’s seven members need to concur on a recommendation. The votes for Carpeneti were three do not retain, two favoring retetion and two abstaining.

“To the knowledge of people in this office it has not it has not in the past happened that the council has tried to evaluate a judge and has not been able to come up with four votes, either yes or no,” DiPietro said.

The previous “no” recommendations issued on 12 occasions were for nine individual judges, some of who were retained by voters before again getting a negative recommendation from the council, she said.

Recommendations for 21 judges up for retention this year were issued by the judicial council on Wednesday, with “yes” recommendations for 18 and “no” recommendations for Kenai judges Kelly Lawson and Martin Fallon. No Juneau judges other than Carpeneti are on the ballot.

The council states that Fallon, a district court judge, “did not meet performance standards related to integrity, and diligence and administrative skills.” The assessment of Lawson, a superior court judge, states she “did not meet performance standards related to judicial temperament and integrity.”

Carpeneti, the daughter of former Alaska Supreme Court Justice Walter Carpeneti, was born and raised in Juneau, and was a private practice attorney in Homer when she was appointed a First Judicial District judge by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

“The most satisfying parts of this work include interacting with citizens who report for jury duty, and working to ensure that everyone who comes into my courtroom feels respected and heard,” Carpeneti said in an interview conducted by the judicial council as part of this year’s assessment process. “I also enjoy the thinking this job requires, understanding what the parties need from the court, and providing decisions that allow litigants to move on with their lives…Mostly, performing in this role makes me feel grateful to live in this community.”

A report card where attorneys, court employees, social service professionals, peace officers and jurors rated her in several categories on a 1 to 5 scale resulted in rankings ranging from 2.3 to 5.

The largest group of respondents were 108 attorneys who gave her cumulative scores of 3.7 for legal ability, 4.1 for impartiality, 4.3 for integrity, 3.9 for judicial temperment, 3.8 for diligence and 3.8 for overall performance. A survey of 28 court employees resulted in 4.6 overall performance score, 10 social service professions gave her a 3.5 overall score and 18 peace officers a 2.3 overall score.

Jurors, listed in a separate table gave her an overall rating of 5, with individual category scores between 4.8 and 5.

The council, in its summary of Carpeneti’s non-recommendation, noted the process included “surveys and reviews from attorneys, court employees, jurors, and other user groups familiar with the judge’s work, analysis of the judge’s financial disclosure documents, analysis of how often the judge’s decisions were affirmed on appeal, whether their pay was withheld for untimely decisions, how often the judge was disqualified from a case, whether the judge followed standards of ethical conduct and continuing education, input from the public, and the judge’s demonstrated commitment to the administration of justice and the community.”

Carpeneti, in a retention questionnaire for the council, stated “I think I am likely about where one would expect a judge to be four years into the job.”

“Which is to say that I’ve learned an enormous amount, and know I have a huge amount still to learn,” she wrote. “The most satisfying parts of this work include interacting with citizens who report for jury duty, and working to ensure that everyone who comes into my courtroom feels respected and heard. I also enjoy the thinking this job requires, understanding what the parties need from the court, and providing decisions that allow litigants to move on with their lives. Mostly, performing in this role makes me feel grateful to live in this community and hopeful for our community and state. I feel privileged to be in a role where people share with me the difficulties they face and trust me to make hugely personal decisions in their lives.”

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.

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