On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, The Alaska Landmine reported that the local attorney referenced in the lengthy Ninth Circuit Judicial Council report on now-former Judge Joshua Kindred is Michelle Nesbett, an Anchorage attorney who has worked at Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot law firm since 2020. Nesbett’s involvement with Kindred raises serious ethical concerns within Alaska’s justice system.
According to the report, Kindred received “sexually suggestive text messages from a local attorney who regularly appeared before him, which he also discussed with his law clerks.” This attorney has now been identified as Michelle Nesbett. Nesbett is married to Anchorage Superior Court Judge David Nesbett, who is the grandson of Buell Nesbett — the namesake of the Downtown Anchorage Nesbett Courthouse.
Previously, only the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska knew Nesbett was the defense attorney referenced in the report. A review of federal court records has revealed that two of Nesbett’s cases were reassigned away from Kindred’s court on November 15, 2022, the same day that cases involving three assistant U.S. attorneys were also reassigned.
Those assistant U.S. attorneys — Karen Vandergaw, Seth Brickey-Smith, and Tara Lewis — had their cases taken away from Kindred after allegations against him came to light in late 2022. Vandergaw had allegedly sent nude photos to Kindred. Lewis had two intimate encounters with Kindred shortly after starting as an assistant U.S. attorney.
Nesbett’s two reassigned cases from Kindred’s court were both criminal cases, where she was appointed to represent defendants who could not afford their own attorneys. In one case, Nesbett and Vandergaw opposed each other as counsel. Both Nesbett and Vandergaw put their names forward last April to fill a vacant federal judge position in Alaska, despite ongoing investigations into their prior cases before Kindred.
Multiple sources also said Kindred supported Nesbett’s judicial nomination and helped introduce her to key officials considering candidates. One comment on a candidate evaluation said Nesbett and Kindred had forged a “very close relationship.” Shortly before her term ended in March 2024, Nesbett also served on the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, which works with federal judges.
Nesbett did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story regarding her relationship with Kindred and the conflicts of interest with cases that were reassigned.
Source: The Alaska Landmine
