Jury finds former Juneau chiropractor not guilty on two sexual assault charges; deadlocks on 12 other counts

Mark Sabbatini
4 days ago
2 min read

Jeffrey Fultz, facing accusations from a dozen women for alleged actions at a clinic between 2014 and 2020, stated he was providing legitimate treatment

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

This is a developing story.

A jury found a former Juneau chiropractor not guilty of two counts of sexual assault and deadlocked on 12 other related charges involving a dozen female patients on Thursday following eight days of deliberations and a six-week trial.

Jeffrey Fultz, facing charges for alleged actions at a clinic between 2014 to 2020, stated during the trial at the Juneau Courthouse he was providing legitimate treatment to his accusers. Some of those patients were in the courtroom when the jury’s verdict was announced shortly before 4 p.m.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on 11 charges of sexual assault and one of sexual harassment. In addition, a mistrial was declared by Judge Larry Woolford on two additional sexual assault charges during the trial.

Prosecutors are determining whether to retry Fultz on the 14 unresolved charges.

"We are at this point reviewing all of our options — it’s too soon for us to have made any formal decisions," said Krystyn Tendy, a co-prosecutor of the case, on Thursday evening. "There's a lot of steps that we need to go through and people to consult. But we have certainly not ruled out retrying any or all of those charges."

Fultz’s attorney, James Christie, could not immediately be reached for comment.

A status hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 23, according to the Alaska Court System’s online database.

Court and police records show an investigation of accusations against Fultz began in April of 2020 when a woman told Juneau Police Department officials she was subjected to "nonconsensual sexual contact" by Fultz while receiving treatment from him at a Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) clinic.

Other women came forward with similar accusations during the investigation and after he was indicted in April of 2021 on charges involving three alleged victims. He was arrested that month while living in New Mexico, where he had formerly practiced before moving to Juneau.

Fultz surrendered his chiropractic license in May of 2021 due to "sexual misconduct," according to the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.