Background
Edgar Boyko was born in Vienna, Austria on October 19, 1918 to Myron David, an eye doctor, and Florence Boyko, an opera singer.
Edgar Boyko was born in Vienna, Austria on October 19, 1918 to Myron David, an eye doctor, and Florence Boyko, an opera singer.
University of Saint Andrews (Bachelor of Science, 1940). University of Maryland (Juris Doctor, with honor, 1945). George Washington University (Master of Laws, 1948).
Order of the Coif.
Editor, Maryland Law Review, 1945. City Attorney, Cordova, Alaska, 1954-1956. Corporation Counsel, Fairview Public Utility District, 1954-1957.
Member, Judicial Commission on Revision of Alaska Admiralty Rules, 1956-1957.
Special Alaska Delegate, American Bar Association Regional Conference on World Peace Through Law, San Francisco, 1958. Member, National Panel of Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association.
Member, Fee Arbitration Committee: San Diego County Bar Association, since 1983. Alaska Bar Association, since 1984.
State Bar of California, 1968.
Attorney General, State of Alaska, 1967-1968. Member, Advisory Committee, Alaska Judicial Council, 1977-1979. Referee, California State Bar Court, since 1980.
Special Counsel, Alaska State House Representatives, 1983- 1985.
San Diego County Superior Court Judge: pro tem Panel, since 1987. Settlement Panel, since 1987.
Spoken languages: German.
He served as Attorney General for the State of Alaska under the administration of Governor Walter Hickel from 1967 to 1968. In 1939, the couple emigrated to the United States, where Boyko worked several jobs before receiving a law degree from the University of Maryland in 1945. Boyko moved to Alaska in 1952 to work as an attorney for the Bureau of Land Management.
The next year, he entered private practice, eventually practicing law in both Alaska and California.
He became known for mounting daring defenses in difficult cases, as well as for his theatrical and idiosyncratic style. Boyko said a trial should be a performance for the jury.
He wore a pinstripe suit, a vest and gold jewelry, and in later years added a cane. He was known to use astrology in the process of jury selection.
Despite a prosecution by later-Senator Ted Stevens, Marler was acquitted on a defense of "no taxation without representation", with Boyko citing the Territory of Alaska"s lack of representation in the United States. Congress.
Boyko was appointed Attorney General for Alaska during the first administration of Governor Walter J. Hickel, from 1967-1968. Boyko helped to form the Governor"s Task Force on Native Land Claims which led to the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Acting in 1971
Back in private practice, Boyko"s clients included Wesley Ladd, accused in the 1972 murder of Ferris Rezk. Ladd was acquitted despite eyewitness testimony but later charged with the 1973 murder of Johnny Rich, who had testified for the prosecution in the Rezk case.
When Ladd called Boyko to represent him in the Rich case, Boyko responded, "Sorry, only one miracle per customer."
Boyko was a lifelong Democrat, but in 1990 he joined the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) to assist former governor Walter Hickel in taking over AIP"s spot on the ballot and winning the governorship.
After suffering a series of strokes in 1998, Boyko moved to the Seattle area in 1999. He died January 1, 2002 in a Des Moines, Washington hospital.
Boyko wrote a newspaper column and hosted a radio talk show, both called The Roar of the Snow Tiger, which offered his political views and commentary.
In 1956, Boyko defended Jack Marler, a former Internal Revenue Service agent accused of tax evasion.
San Diego County and Alaska Bar Associations. The State Bar of California. San Diego Trial Lawyers Association.
California Trial Lawyers Association.
The Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Fellow, Alaska Academy of Trial Lawyers (Member, Board of Governors, 1970-1974.
1977-1984).