A trial for all three defendants had been slated to start this week over a trafficking conspiracy that involved tusks from an estimated 100 walruses, along with skulls, bones and hides of polar bears and whales, court documents said. Federal law forbids any sale of raw animal parts from marine mammals, though Alaska Natives are permitted to sell finished works of art crafted from animal parts. The second defendant, Richard Weshenfelder of Anchorage, admitted to helping sell the walrus ivory over the Internet and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, a federal statute that protects wildlife. ANCHORAGE, Alaska | 
 
 ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Two Alaskans pleaded guilty on Friday to illegally buying and selling hundreds of pounds of walrus tusks in what prosecutors described as Alaska's biggest wildlife-trafficking case in nearly 20 years. As part of their plea deals, Leboeuf and Sternbach had one unusual request -- they hope to become legally married before being sent away to serve their federal sentences. In return, prosecutors agreed to the dismissal of 10 other counts and a nine-year prison sentence followed by three years of supervised release. During Friday's hearing, LeBoeuf answered questions for U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess, who wanted to know if LeBoeuf understood the many implications of his guilty plea. "Sir, I just did what I did to get along in life," LeBoeuf told the judge. The two have been living together as a couple for 24 years, Leboeuf told the judge, but if they are not legally married they might not be allowed to correspond with each other from separate federal prisons.
– Huge quantities of walrus tusks and a pair of polar bear hides were among the illegal goods sold by two Alaskans who have pleaded guilty to violating federal marine mammal laws. A third person is expected to plead guilty next week. Authorities say two of the three spent years traveling back and forth to Saint Lawrence Island to trade cigarettes, guns, and snowmobiles with Eskimo villagers in exchange for federally protected animal parts, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The third accomplice then helped sell the parts online. All face serious jail time for illegally trafficking in hundreds of pounds of raw walrus ivory in what Reuters calls the biggest such case in Alaska in 20 years. The Eskimo villagers can legally hunt walrus, and it's not clear yet whether any will face charges for supplying the ivory. When asked by the judge if he understood the implications of his guilty plea, Jesse James LeBoeuf responded, "Sir, I just did what I did to get along in life."