Bruce Weyhrauch
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Bruce Weyhrauch is an attorney in
Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...
,
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
, United States. He is also a former representative in the Alaska
State House State House or statehouse may refer to: Buildings *Aso Villa or State House, the official residence of the President of Nigeria *Government House, Dominica or The State House, the official residence of the President of Dominica * State House, Bar ...
representing Juneau's District 4. Weyhrauch has practiced at his own law office in Juneau for nearly three decades. His regulatory and government affairs-focused practice handles a wide variety of matters, including labor relations and natural resources.


Education and career

After receiving his BS in natural resource planning and engineering from
Humboldt State University California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt or Humboldt) is a public university in Arcata, California. It is one of Cal Poly (disambiguation), three polytechnic universities in the California State University (CSU) sys ...
, Weyhrauch matriculated at the Northwestern School of Law of
Lewis and Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1867 and is situated on the historic M. Lloyd Frank Estate in South Portland's Collins View neighborhood. It is composed of three distinct but adja ...
, where he served as the editor-in-chief of ''Environmental Law''. His publications during this period include "Operation Exodus: The United States Government’s Program to Intercept Illegal Export of High Technology" (''Computer Law Journal'', 1986). Maintaining an active presence in his community, he has served as an officer or director on the Board of Directors of the Foundation For End of Life Care, Inc.; Chapel-by-the-Lake, Inc.; Rotary International, Juneau Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc.; Juneau Economic Development Council; Big Brothers/Big Sisters Board of Directors; and the AWARE Women's Shelter. Weyhrauch has held positions with the Juneau Port Authority, the Juneau Economic Development Council, and the City and Borough of Juneau Board of Equalization. An Eagle Scout, Weyhrauch has served in numerous capacities and on the
Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...
's Southeast Alaska Council Executive Board.


Indictment, conviction and Supreme Court case reversal

In May 2007, Weyhrauch, along with fellow Republican state House members Pete Kott and Vic Kohring, were charged in connection with a scandal involving oilfield service company VECO attempting to buy government favors in Alaska. The ensuing investigation led to the widely publicized indictment, trial and convictions of United States Senator Ted Stevens in October 2008, and the indictments and convictions of former representatives
Tom Anderson Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970) is an American technology entrepreneur and co-founder of the social networking website Myspace, which he founded in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe. He was later president of Myspace and a strategic adviser ...
and Beverly Masek and state Senator John Cowdery, as well as VECO chairman Bill Allen and vice president Richard Smith. Alaska businessmen/lobbyists Bill Weimar (former for-profit halfway house owner), Bill Bobrick, and
Jim Clark James Clark (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Clark won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lotus, and—at the time of his death—held the ...
, chief of staff for former governor
Frank Murkowski Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a United States Senate, United States Senator representing Alaska from 1981 to 2002 and as t ...
, also were indicted and convicted. Clark's guilty plea and sentence were later vacated before he was ordered to report to custody. Weyrauch had been charged with bribery, extortion, conspiracy and mail fraud. After being found guilty in a trial, on October 15, 2007, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He appealed, and subsequently his proceedings were granted an indefinite stay while issues involved were re-examined by the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
. This was followed by Weyhrauch prevailing at the Supreme Court on a challenge to the
honest services fraud Honest services fraud is a crime defined in (the federal mail and wire fraud statute), added by the United States Congress in 1988. The idea of this law was to criminalize not only schemes to defraud victims of money and property, but also sch ...
statute. His case was decided on June 24, 2010, in association with the similar ''
Skilling v. United States ''Skilling v. United States'', 561 U.S. 358 (2010), is a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case interpreting the honest services fraud statute, . The case involves former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and the honest ser ...
'' and
Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-British writer and former politician, Publishing, newspaper publisher, Investor, financier, and Fraudster, convicted fraudster. Black's father was businessma ...
case decisions. Weyhrauch's federal case was remanded to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, and as a result of this re-examination, all federal charges were dismissed. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor lobbying violation, was given a suspended sentence and probation, and was fined $1,000. It was estimated he had spent $300,000 on his defense.


Personal

Weyhrauch was stranded on Coghlan Island in the Juneau area on April 22, 2007, after he fell out of his boat at about 6:00 PM that night; he was forced to swim to the island. The
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
District Seventeen, Sector Juneau, searched for Weyhrauch during the night. A volunteer rescue team from the nonprofit organization SEADOGS found him alive at approximately 11:00 AM on April 23.


References


External links


Bruce Weyhrauch
at 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature {{DEFAULTSORT:Weyhrauch, Bruce 1953 births Alaska lawyers Living people Republican Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Alaska Legislature Politicians from Juneau, Alaska Politicians from Lincoln, Nebraska Alaska politicians convicted of crimes