A group of Anchorage jurors was unable to come to a unanimous decision in a nearly six-year long homicide case. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews declared a mistrial Friday morning for the young man involved in a 2019 Unalaska car crash case.
Following more than three days of deliberation and over a week in trial, 24-year-old Dustin Ruckman was not convicted for his involvement in the deaths of two Unalaska teen girls, but he also hasn’t been acquitted.
On May 9, 2019, when Ruckman was 18, he drove his truck up Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo with his girlfriend at the time, Karly McDonald, 16, and friend Kiara Renteria Haist, 18.
The truck eventually plummeted about 900 feet down the Ulakta Head Cliff side of the mountain with the two girls inside. They were ejected and died in the fall. Ruckman sustained some minor injuries and told police that he was thrown from the truck.
He was facing two counts of criminally negligent homicide, but he went free Friday for now.
Kiara’s mother, Diana Renteria, and her father, Derek Haist, have been attending status hearings, trial calls and meetings with lawyers for almost six years. For the last few weeks, they’ve been in Anchorage attending the trial. Shortly before that, they watched as the court first attempted to fill a jury in Unalaska in mid-March, but couldn’t find enough impartial local candidates and moved the trial to Anchorage. Haist said it’s been a difficult journey.
“There's not a day that goes by that we don't think of her,” Haist told KUCB after the judge dismissed the jury. “Kiara died one time, and every day, she dies to me and Diana. And it's been a long process for six years going through this.”
Still, Kiara's mother, Diana Renteria, said this isn’t the end for them.
“I failed my daughter trying to get accountability and justice,” she said. “But a mistrial, to me, means that there's possibility of maybe going back trying again.”
About 15 people including members of the public and friends and family of the victims and Ruckman gathered at the courthouse Friday morning, as Matthews granted the mistrial. He described the case as “emotionally difficult” and said the jurors appeared exhausted.
“It’s clear that they are emotionally done,” Matthews said about the jury as the court and counsel discussed providing further instructions to the group. “They’ve been at this long, hard for days.”
The jury began deliberations around 3 p.m. Monday, expressing concerns about a mistrial and deadlock almost from the start.
“They raised the specter of a mistrial and an inability to reach a unanimous verdict in the very first note that they provided to the court, which we received at 9 o'clock on Tuesday morning,” Matthews said. “It appeared to have been written at 4:25 p.m. on Monday afternoon.”
Despite instructions from the judge to deliberate further, the jurors returned a deadlocked verdict to the court Thursday afternoon. Matthews dismissed them for the day and on Friday morning he declared that he would not grant the defense’s request to provide further instructions and instead grant the mistrial.
One jury member who didn’t feel comfortable providing a surname, David, spoke with KUCB after the judge dismissed the group. He said it was a very emotional experience for him.
“I really hope that the community of Unalaska can come together and see it for what it is — just a really unfortunate situation,” David said. “In the grand scheme of things, I think it's just really unfair to apply blame to anybody.”
Renteria said the family may continue pursuing criminal charges against Ruckman.
Ruckman and his attorney could not be reached for comment.
Matthews scheduled a status hearing for May 13 to determine what comes next.
KUCB’s Sofia Stuart-Rasi contributed reporting to this story.
