Roetman climbed the metal staircase to Kotzebue's courthouse in late June for what might be his last time — a walk he's made for 20 years.
“It's as familiar as familiar could be,” he said. “I feel like I can just go down the street, go home, and my wife is there, because it's been my reality for a long time, and now it's not.”
Roetman and his wife raised their five boys in Kotzebue, sending them through the local schools and building a life woven into the community.
Professionally, Roetman spent the last 16 years as one of three Superior Court judges in the Second Judicial District, which also covers Utqiaġvik, Nome, and Unalakleet — a rural district roughly the size of California. Roetman officially retired last week.
“It's been the most important job and place that I've lived in my life, the longest place that I've lived in my life, and probably the place that has had the most impact on who I am,” Roetman said.
Roetman's connection to Kotzebue started long before he wore a robe. In the early 2000s, he came to town as a young prosecutor — later a district attorney — freshly transferred from Anchorage and Palmer. He said the move was a massive change from the pace of city courts.
“Doing the job of a prosecutor is a serious one, and sometimes you can get lost in the numbers and forget that cases represent people,” Roetman said. “I think that's probably the biggest lesson that I learned when I moved to Kotzebue as a prosecutor — cases are people."
That lesson is part of what drew him back two years after he left the region, when a judgeship opened up.
“I remember telling my wife there was one place I wanted to be a judge, it would be here,” he said.
Roetman said he's stepping back in part for health reasons. The work itself carries its own kind of weight: he presided over cases ranging from misdemeanors and felonies to small claims and complex civil litigation, often involving people from small, deeply interconnected communities.
“The people who you are judging, you live with,” he said. “People are delivering your food, or taking you in a cab, or teaching your children.”
Roetman also served as the district's presiding judge — essentially the administrative head of the other judges — responsible for assigning cases, supervising court personnel, and appointing magistrates.
His departure adds another layer of complication for a district already working with reduced capacity. In March, former Nome-based judge Romano DiBenedetto resigned following an investigation that found a pattern of scheduling disruptions and inappropriate conduct, including mimicking Alaska Native and Asian accents.
Roetman said the district has also been backlogged since the pandemic, largely due to staffing.
“You can imagine what it's like if there's not enough court personnel, or if there's not enough defense lawyers or prosecutors,” Roetman said. “The system is going to necessarily be impacted.”
Roetman said he’s not completely stepping away though, he’s agreed to help full-time as Nome’s pro tem Superior Court Judge, beginning July 13. He said he’s willing to help until a replacement is found in November, but he acknowledges that it could be longer.
Once the Nome assignment wraps up, Roetman said he's already thinking about how he wants to spend his time — including an old interest he's picking back up.
“I had a motorcycle in college, I'm considering it again,” he said. “Maybe I'm trying to hang on to some vestige of enjoying the outdoors, like I used to.”
For now, Roetman said he's still adjusting to life outside Kotzebue. He starts his position in Nome on July 13.
