A Juneau man accused of selling heroin pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in court Thursday after a jury deadlocked on the issue two months ago.
Jose Perez, 36, changed his plea in Juneau Superior Court before Judge Philip Pallenberg to guilty of one count of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, a class ‘C’ felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a maximum fine of $50,000.
He was originally charged with one count of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, a class ‘A’ felony, that carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 maximum fine.
Pallenberg ordered a pre-sentencing report and told Perez he will be sentenced on Nov. 29, according to court documents.
The case could have been retried after a trial jury in August was hung on the class ‘A’ felony charge. That same jury found him guilty of fourth-degree assault and one count of interference with official proceedings. The interference charge stemmed from Perez’ alleged jailhouse assault on a witness against him. Perez faces one to three years in prison on interfering and up to a year on the assault charge.
Perez was charged Jan. 5 with allegedly possessing heroin with intent to distribute, according to court documents. Documents show that on Jan. 4, a Juneau Police Department informant bought heroin off another dealer. That dealer later told police he bought the drugs from Perez in a Switzer Village trailer park. After obtaining a search warrant for Perez and the trailer, JPD officers found a tin that contained individually wrapped packages of heroin. Both the dealer, who testified against Perez, and Perez were arrested and taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center. Perez attacked the dealer and punched him at least 31 times, surveillance video shows.
Court documents indicate that Perez, a Dominican Republic national, was informed by his lawyer that his plea he entered Thursday could potentially affect his immigration status.
Comments (9)
Add commentSend him back
...to the D.R. after he's sentenced. Why should we pay to incarcerate him?
nevada
I think the state prosecuters should trade places with the nevada state prosecuters! if they are caught with that amount of drugs most of them down there are in prison most of thier life and then owned by the state for the rest of thier life, Alaska drug laws are to lean, sore we are doing good on molesters and homeless but we still have issues with drugs and alcohol and kids using as well
re:nevada
I agree wtih frog. Any where else it seems like he would of been done and shipped out of here! It seems that in alaska, they aren't getting the punishment they deserve. Instead their getting the spotlight and slap on the hand.
Perez is bad news.
latitude....interesting but...
....your idea seems good on the face of it, but - as a legal point I'm not sure you CAN convict someone of a crime in one country, and then send them home to serve the sentence, after all the crime was not committed in the Dominican Republic, or under their laws or penalties. If you do send him back, unless he has convictions in DR for crimes, he'd probably end up right back in the states. I do find it interesting that someone who deals heroin managed to get legal immigration status. Fiance visa is the only thing I can think of.....
well...
In Lemon Creek Correctional Facility he punched the other dealer at least 31 times? I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, but who's idea was it to have them anywhere near each other? JPD gets person A to nark on person B, then locks them both away in the same holding area?
@Wren,
Perhaps wren can explain to us why we should give a dam about one convicted heroin dealer beating up the other convicted heroin dealer?
Perhaps, just perhaps, if heroin dealers thought that if they got caught dealing heroin in our community a thorough beating would only be the beginning of their worries we might deter them a little.
ich
lol
ich
lol
AH HA
Sixth Amendment Right. It contains little things, nothing important. You know, things like speedy trial, public trial, impartial jury, etc. Nothing you obviously care about.
You may not have realized that when this fight took place, they were both charged with "allegedly", not yet convicted. So, for cops to charge into your house and arrest you for some trumped up charge that is completely false putting you in a jailhouse situation where you get your tail busted, that is completely alright? No, it's not. After they are convicted I don't care if they have a public hanging. That's what I personally believe should happen to heroin dealers. I don't care if our government injects heroin into their veins until they pop. But until they are convicted in front of a jury of their peers, a constitutional right that they do have, then they shouldn't be put in situations like this.
Things aren't always what they seem. That's what we have jury's for.