PALMER -- Eric Smith still remembers the day at Tazlina's community hall when a "talking circle" helped set the fate of two young men who torched the only fire truck for miles.

Smith, a Superior Court judge in Palmer for the past 20 years, is retiring at the end of July.

He's presided over the gamut of judicial proceedings in his time -- from horrifying murder trials, to defendants who drive drunk to the probation office -- in the fast-growing and sometimes eccentric Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a place the size of West Virginia.

But Smith's larger legacy extends past his courtroom to his pivotal role with a statewide restorative justice program linking tribal governments and Alaska's system of courts.

The groundwork he laid opened new doors that have already improved relations between tribal and state courts, said E. Ingrid Cumberlidge, chief tribal court judge in Sand Point.

"The work he did opening up those doors, I think it's improved justice in the rural areas,"said Cumberlidge, a volunteer judge who works as a third-grade teacher at the Sand Point school.

They know these guys

Smith wrote and helped implement an Alaska Supreme Court rule change effective in 2014 and still rolling out around the state. It created a new mechanism for agreements between tribal governments in rural Alaska and the Alaska Court System.

The agreements allow tribal governments to refer certain defendants to a restorative justice program that gives the community the chance to help decide the right sentence, often through a process known as circle or consensus sentencing.

Smith, who worked as an attorney for many years into the 1990s in villages around Alaska with Rural Alaska Community Action Program Inc., said he saw firsthand how well tribal control of sentencing can work.

"You'd be kind of dumb not to pay really close attention, because they know these guys," Smith said during an interview in his chambers last week. "We don't."

Circular justice

Under the change to the state criminal rule procedures, an Alaska Court System judge may refer a defendant to a restorative justice program with consent of the victim, the prosecutor and the defendant. The community holds a restorative justice proceeding and then the judge weighs the recommendations that result as part of sentencing.

The circle sentencing method brings everyone involved in the crime -- the defendant, the victim or victims, law enforcement, family members, friends -- together to come up with an customized way to get the defendant back on track.

The circles allow anyone in the community to address the people involved in a crime, provided the conversation is respectful. Six or 60 people may be involved in the conversation, which normally is confidential. Sometimes the resulting public sentence isn't jail time but community service or reparations.

Smith said that Tazlina talking circle eight years ago was a powerful example of how the program can work.

Community catharsis

Two men in their early 20s admitted to drunkenly stealing and torching the Kenny Lake fire truck, with Jaws of Life extrication equipment inside.

Members of the Kenny Lake Volunteer Fire Department told the pair they were lucky no homes burned down.

An Alaska State Trooper said he'd been trying to keep the men out of jail for years but they wouldn't let him. The sister of one said she'd have to haul water and cut wood while he did time in jail. A relative pleaded with one not to let alcohol destroy his life as it had nearly destroyed hers.

Both men were in tears when the circle ended, Smith said. He sentenced them -- jail time was involved but the circle helped establish effective probation conditions -- and hasn't seen them in his courtroom since.

"It primarily served as kind of a catharsis and a realization," Smith said. "And I think it helped the community out enormously because they got to vent."

He hopes to continue working with the program after his retirement, which becomes official July 31.

The new way

Five recognized tribes and communities are participating so far in the restorative justice program that became effective in 2014: Kodiak, Sand Point, Copper Center, Tlingit/Haida and Togiak. The Kenaitze Indian Tribe is working toward involvement.

The tribal court in Togiak, a mostly Yup'ik town of about 800 nearly 70 miles west of Dillingham, signed a restorative justice agreement last fall, according to court clerk Helen Gregorio. The first two cases Gregorio submitted to the Dillingham court for referral to the tribal court under the restorative justice agreement were dismissed. Both involved assault.

A man in his 20s involved in an assault case is making his way through the process now.

One of the first two defendants is now again accused of assault, she said. Gregorio is filing paperwork to get that case into restorative justice again.

She's got an application in the works for a third man, in his 20s, also charged with assault.

"Their hope is that they'll be able to talk to the person to make him realize that he is a valuable member to his family and to the community," Gregorio said. "At least this person will know that our community values him and we hope they will realize their value to themselves."

The old way

Some Alaska villages have practiced "restorative justice" for years -- generations, to hear Mike Jackson tell it.

Jackson, a magistrate judge in Kake in Southeast Alaska, grew up in the predominantly Tlingit village of about 550.

The Kake tribal court started using what the tribe calls "circle peacemaking" nearly 20 years ago for cases involving juveniles, he said.

"I started it primarily because of my father and grandfather. I saw them use this process."

Jackson estimated that about five juveniles reoffend out of about 100. But the program targets relatively minor crimes: minor consuming, bullying, vandalism.

He acknowledged that people with substance abuse issues may need inpatient treatment and don't benefit from staying in the village to work a consensus program.

An effective circle also relies on the attitude of the VPSO, village police officer or Alaska State Trooper involved, Jackson said. Kake has had a high police turnover in the past decade, he said. Some of the newcomers may not take the circle seriously or may balk at the unconventional practice.

Local power

Jackson's favorite example of the process working involved a boy who broke a window at a house rented out to two incoming teachers from Oregon. The teachers arrived to find the unwelcome sight of broken glass. The boy admitted the crime. The tribal court was approved to do a circle sentencing program, Jackson said.

During the circle, the magistrate said, the boy apologized to the homeowner. He apologized to the teachers. To his parents and grandparents. His grandmother, a culture-bearer for the tribe, apologized for her grandson.

"It was very powerful," Jackson said.

The consensus: The boy would help fix the window and also pay for the carpenter doing the job. He would provide two cords of wood for the teachers to use through the winter -- split and piled.

At the next community gathering, the boy apologized to everyone there, Jackson said.

"Everybody in town knows that's what happened but he was so moved by his grandmother that he agreed to apologize in front of everybody," he said.

Jackson credited Smith's work institutionalizing the restorative justice agreements.

"I like the way he speaks from his heart," he said.

Next steps

Smith said he has a variety of ideas for the future, including continuing to work on restorative justice and expanding it to urban areas. He's met with members of Anchorage's Polynesian community and with Talkeetna residents.

Smith will also continue to spin Americana on 90.3 KNBA's "The Arctic Cactus Hour" radio show.

Asked which cases in his 20-year history stood out, Smith said termination of parental rights and sexual abuse cases are always difficult. He said he learned of the haunting ripples inflicted on the sheer number of people left grieving after Paul Stavenjord was convicted of murder in 1998 for the shooting of a Big Lake couple near their Chulitna cabin.

Still, Smith maintains that a judge has to believe everyone is capable of redemption.

"If you don't think people are going to change, then you're beating your head against the wall," he said. "I still operate under the assumption people are telling the truth."

Replacing Palmer's long-serving Superior Court judge

The Alaska Judicial Council is just starting the process of replacing retiring Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith, whose last day on the bench is July 31.

Applicants have until Monday to get paperwork filed, according to Susanne DiPietro, the council's executive director. The council will announce applicants Tuesday, then begin a review process that includes consulting with the Alaska Bar Association, an online survey and questionnaires to attorneys, judges and past employers of the candidates.

The council will meet in mid-September to interview applicants and nominate at least two after holding a public hearing in Palmer, DiPietro said. Gov. Bill Walker will nominate his choice within 45 days.