Ridge Alkonis reunites with family after release by U.S. Parole Commission

After 537 days in custody, U.S. Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis was released Friday morning by order of the U.S. Parole Commission after a review of the facts of a car crash that killed two people near Mount Fuji in Japan.

Alkonis, 35, hugged his wife and children outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, where he’d been detained by U.S. officials since a prisoner transfer on Dec. 14.

Alkonis said he lost consciousness after driving down from a hike on the famous mountain and U.S. Navy investigators ruled that he passed out due to altitude sickness. But a Japanese judge decided that Alkonis had fallen asleep at the wheel and lost control of his vehicle, which plowed into pedestrians and parked cars in a restaurant parking lot on May 29, 2021, and led to the deaths of an 85-year-old Japanese woman and her 54-year-old son-in-law.

The judge sentenced Alkonis to three years in prison for negligence, but Alkonis and his family maintained that the sentence was not justifiable.

His family and friends rejoiced Friday.

“It’s long overdue, and I’m just so glad that this family has finally been reunited, that Ridge is able to be with his wife Brittany and their three children,” family spokesman Andrew Eubanks said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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“I welcome Ridge home. I’m so glad you’re home buddy. Can’t wait to see you,” Eubanks added.

The Alkonis family also issued a statement:

“This morning, after 537 days of unnecessary detention, the U.S. Parole Commission ordered Lt. Ridge Alkonis’ immediate release. He is now back home with his family, where he belongs. We will have more to say in time, but for now, we are focused on welcoming Ridge home and respectfully ask for privacy.”

Alkonis and his family and friends maintained his innocence. Utah Sen. Mike Lee also was among those who encouraged Japanese and American leaders to work for the release of Alkonis.

“At last, Lieutenant Ridge Alkonis is free! He was imprisoned for 537 days — wrongly — based on a Japanese conviction in Japanese court,” Lee tweeted Friday. “No civilized nation should ever imprison anyone for a tragic car accident caused by an unforeseeable medical emergency.

“Glad he’s home!”

Alkonis apologized for the Japanese family’s loss during court proceedings.

“I am so sorry for all the pain and suffering I caused because of this accident,” he said.

A U.S. Navy doctor testified at the trial that Alkonis did not fall asleep but blacked out due to acute mountain sickness during the return drive from a hike above 7,000 feet on Mount Fuji. His wife and children, who were in the van with him during the crash, said Alkonis was not sleepy and appeared to black out. They said that once he passed out, he was unresponsive to their screams and one daughter’s kicks to his driver’s seat. He remained unconscious during the crash itself.

He paid a record $1.65 million in restitution to the Japanese family. Some of the money came from insurance. More than $500,000 came from family and friends, some of whom tapped into retirement funds or mortgaged their homes to help. His apology and restitution payment, or gomenasai, is customary in Japan and regularly leads to suspended sentences.

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Alkonis is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He took a Bible and Book of Mormon with him when he reported to prison in July 2022, and he and his family said they have relied on their faith for peace and hope.

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After 17 months in a Japanese prison, Alkonis was transferred from a Japanese prison into U.S. custody under an international prisoner transfer program. Alkonis was moved to an American federal prison, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.

The Alkonis family appealed directly to President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan both worked on the prisoner transfer, according to the Times and CNN.

The prisoner exchange program is intended to better rehabilitate prisoners by returning them to their home country where they understand the language. His case then went to the U.S. Parole Commission, an independent part of the Justice Department. The department reviewed it to determine how long Alkonis should remain in federal prison, The New York Times reported.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney also posted a tweet welcoming Alkonis home.

A U.S. Parole Commission spokesperson told the Deseret News by email that the commission found that Alkonis “was lawfully convicted in Japan of ‘negligent driving causing death or injury.’”

The commission also found that the Japanese conviction was most similar to involuntary manslaughter under federal law in the United States, where guidelines recommended a sentence of 10-16 months, the spokesperson said.

“The commission determined, however, that the period of incarceration that he had already served at the time of its determination (over 17 months) would have exceeded the applicable guideline range,” the spokesperson said. “Thus, as of Jan. 12, 2024, the commission ordered that he be immediately released from custody based on the time he had already served.”

Alkonis had served in Japan for seven years for the Navy and speaks Japanese. His family said he had loved his time in the country and among its people.

Alkonis is a specialist in underseas warfare and acoustic engineering.