Alaska Pilot Asks Supreme Court to Block Plane Forfeiture

An Alaska pilot is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the forfeiture of his aircraft for a misdemeanor alcohol offense violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on excessive fines. Kenneth Jouppi, 83, filed a brief on Thursday in Jouppi v. Alaska. The justices agreed in July to hear the case, which asks whether courts must weigh a defendant's specific conduct when deciding whether a forfeiture is constitutionally excessive.

The dispute began in 2012. State troopers searched Jouppi's Cessna U206D before a planned flight from Fairbanks to Beaver, Alaska, and found 72 cans of beer among a passenger's belongings. Beaver prohibits the importation of alcohol. Jouppi said he did not know the beer was on board, but some testimony indicated at least one six-pack was visible while he loaded the aircraft. A jury convicted him under a state law that bars the knowing transport of alcohol into a dry community, including attempted delivery or transfer.

His sentence included 180 days in jail with 177 suspended, a $3,000 fine with $1,500 suspended, and three years of probation. A trial court later valued the 1969 Cessna U206D at $95,000 and held that forfeiting it would be unconstitutionally excessive. In April 2025, the Alaska Supreme Court reversed that finding, ruling that the forfeiture would not be grossly disproportionate to the offense. The case has moved through Alaska's appellate courts for more than a decade. Jouppi's attorneys argue that the Excessive Fines Clause was intended for cases like his and that courts should look at the gravity of the individual's conduct.