Everett Hepp and the Law

A presentation by Michael Carey
Sponsored by the Historians Committee, Alaska Bar Association 

Everett Hepp (1915-1987) came to Fairbanks from California as a young lawyer and played a diversity of roles in the Fairbanks legal community. Assistant District Attorney (late Forties), District Attorney (late Forties and early Fifties), attorney in private practice (1953-1960), and Superior Court Judge (statehood to 1975).
 
During his almost 30 years in Fairbanks, Hepp was involved in many front-page cases, especially murder cases. His relationship with the boss of the Southside night clubs, Raymond Wright, was unusual as Hepp prosecuted him, later defended him, and eventually presided over the trial (1963) of the man who allegedly murdered him. Hepp also was the judge in the landmark Drew Pearson libel lawsuit (1964) in which the famous journalist sued Fairbanks Daily News-Miner publisher Bill Snedden. And Hepp was the judge in a rare abortion case (1971) when a Fairbanks physician, Carl Boswell, was tried for allegedly performing an illegal abortion.
 
Writer Michael Carey will describe Hepp's career and provide details on his best-remembered cases. Carey, a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News, was born in Fairbanks and grew up in the Interior. Carey was the editorial page editor of the Anchorage Daily News until retiring in 2000. He is the host of "Alaska Edition" on KAKM/KSKA for Alaska Public Broadcasting and lives in Anchorage.