Confiscating a $95,000 plane over a six-pack of beer isn't an "unconstitutionally excessive" or "grossly disproportionate" punishment, Alaska's top court has decided. The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled against retired pilot Kenneth Jouppi in a case that goes back to 2012, the New York Times reports. Jouppi and his company, KenAir, were fined $3,000 and he was sentenced to three days in jail on a minor bootlegging charge after state troopers saw him helping a client load 72 beers onto a flight to Beaver, a dry community that bans the importation, sale, and possession of alcohol.
Most of the beer was in boxes, but prosecutors argued that Jouppi would definitely have been aware of one six-pack that was in a plastic bag, KUAC reports. The trial court declined to confiscate Jouppi's Cessna 206, but the state appealed. In their ruling, Alaska Supreme Court justices noted alcohol's connection to crime in rural Alaska and health problems including fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. "Within this context, it is clear that the illegal importation of even a six-pack of beer causes grave societal harm," they wrote. "This factor strongly suggests that the forfeiture is not grossly disproportional."
Jouppi, an 82-year-old from Finland, retired from flying years ago. According to court documents, he said he would probably sell the plane if he got it back. He plans to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court. "When they took my plane, I was forced into retirement," he tells the Times. "You spend a lot of sleepless nights. It hasn't been a pleasant experience at all." He adds: "I don't know if you're familiar with the Finnish people but we're awful damn stubborn." (More Alaska stories.)
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