The criminal case against Jeffrey Fultz, the chiropractor accused of assaulting more than a dozen women under the guise of medical care, is on track to go to trial in February after three years and 32 readiness hearings.
At a hearing Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Jessalyn Gillum said the repeated delays in this case have taken a toll on the alleged victims who call in to testify at most hearings.
“The idea of just sort of delaying for delay’s sake does sometimes have an adverse effect on witnesses’ willingness to participate,” she said. “They get tired, they get fed up.”
Police arrested Fultz in 2021 on three charges of sexual assault. Those charges are based on accusations that he assaulted patients who sought chiropractic care while he worked for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. More women have come forward since. A total of 14 women have now accused Fultz of assault. Some of the crimes date back more than a decade.
A number of factors have delayed the trial, including the case’s complexity, the number of witnesses, and a backlog of criminal cases in Juneau during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last three years, the first judge assigned to the case retired, the investigating Juneau police officer died, and Fultz’s attorney was deemed “mentally unable” to continue with the case.
Fultz has been living in Colorado since he posted bail three years ago. He has made one in-person appearance in court since.
Fultz’s attorney James Christie took on the case last January. He has requested that the witnesses who call in to court to testify be publicly identified and has filed a motion to request broader access to witnesses’ medical records. The judge denied both requests.
Christie has also argued at each hearing that his team hasn’t had enough time to review the case.
“I understand that everyone on the line has rights here and my client’s constitutional right to a fair trial trumps all of them,” he said on Wednesday.
Presiding Judge Larry Woolford scheduled hearings around a Feb. 18 trial date.
Gillum acknowledged that this isn’t a simple case, but said the case has been delayed for three years and it has to go to trial.
“It is the court’s responsibility at the end of the day, I think, to ensure that all the rights of individuals involved are being protected and also balanced,” she said. “Defendants have the right to a fair trial. They have the right to a speedy trial. Victims also have rights under the Victim’s Rights Act.”
One alleged victim called in to Wednesday’s hearing. She said she has been waiting for this trial to happen for a long time, and it’s been hard on her.
“Each time we have these hearings and it keeps getting continued, it is just a constant retraumatization of the victims,” she said. “It feels like it’s never going to be resolved and the longer it goes the more it feels like we don’t matter. It also feels like he gets to live his life and be happy.”
Judge Woolford scheduled a readiness hearing for Dec. 27 at 9 a.m. He says he has blocked out a five week trial starting on Feb. 18, 2025.