A 23-year-old man received a 180-day suspended jail sentence with two years probation for allegedly pulling a gun on another person at a Juneau gas station earlier this summer.
Joshua Andrews pleaded guilty to a reduced charge during his arraignment Tuesday in Juneau Superior Court.
Prosecutors say Andrews pointed a gun at a person, Neil Javier, on July 7 at the Safeway gas station.
District Attorney David Brower said the two were in a dispute, and Andrews blamed Javier for damaging his car.
According to an affidavit, Javier reported to police that Andrews drove up to him and a friend at the gas station, made threatening comments and flashed the gun, pulled the clip out and showed him the bullet.
Andrews was indicted Friday on one count of third-degree assault, a felony. He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, on Tuesday.
Despite entering a guilty plea, Andrews maintains the gun was fake — he says it was a squirt gun. Andrews appeared at the hearing by phone from Florence, Ariz., where he now lives.
Judge Philip Pallenberg accepted the plea agreement that was reached with prosecutors and imposed the sentence. Pallenberg noted that there was no conclusive proof of whether it was real or fake gun, but that, “the only conceivable intent in doing that was to make the person think it was a real gun, which is an attempt to place someone in fear,” Pallenberg said.
The judge added, “Maybe I’m being too flippant about it, but Mr. Andrews said that gun couldn’t hurt somebody because it was only a squirt gun, and it tempted me to say that ‘Squirt guns don’t hurt people, people hurt people.’ And clearly the intent was to make Mr. Javier think that Mr. Andrews could hurt him, and you don’t pull a squirt gun on somebody that you’re having a disagreement with and say something rude to them unless you want them to think you’re a dangerous person who isn’t to be trifled with.”
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (8)
Add commentA cold cell would be best
Joshua Andrews is the type of clown that gives gun owners a bad name. Judge Pallenberg missed an opportunity to set the perfect example to other would be miscreants.
First, he should have nixed the plea deal.
Second, Andrews is a bully and should be on ice for at least one year if not 18 months and 3 years suspended.
What's Andrews going to do the next time he doesn't get his way or some does something he doesn't like? Is he going to show them the empty cartridge casing after he shoots them? And then tell them that they made him mad while that victim bleeding dies?
Judge Pallenberg, with all due respect sir, you blew it on this one. Let's see how you do with the Larry A. Reiger case.
He should have gotten at
He should have gotten at least some jail time. Judges here are way too lenient. Want to commit a crime? Come to Juneau. We will even let you "appear" at your trial from the state (or country?) of your choosing. Don't worry, you will get probation, even if you use a gun.
...real gun, fake gun.....the
...real gun, fake gun.....the same intent was there. Yet again, Juneau courts document how little the punishment is to those who choose to abide by their own set of laws. mori88 is correct, the message in Juneau is, this is an ideal place to commit burglary, assault, deal heroin and meth and pretty much anything else out there. The punishments are comical.
I was raised in Juneau and graduated from JDHS but now live in the lower 48, in a city of 1.5 million people. I feel safer in my city than I ever would if I were to come back to Juneau to visit. It breaks my heart to read all of these stories and to see people plea off like it was nothing. They go to LCCC to await trial, make more negative contacts, get more angry and get back out on the streets and raise hell in your beautiful town. Ridiculous.
Yeah, Juneau is far safer
Yeah, Juneau is far safer then any 1.5 million person city. While you might feel safer it's not even close.
I suppose it is all relative
I suppose it is all relative to what one is used to in their environment. But I'll tell you this, I'll hang out in my city at night before I'll hang out at the Front and Franklin area at night. I'll still guess that crime, commensurate to population, is worse in Juneau.
I'm not trying to start an argument here it is just that if I were to bring my family to visit the town I was raised in, and stayed downtown, I would not feel as if we could go out and feel very safe after dark. I realize with growth comes certain issues such as crime but it just makes me sad to read the things I read on such a regular, if not daily basis.
Your complaints are heard, but.....
As a past resident of juneau for 10 years, and growing up with both of the two individuals. I completely agree with the judges verdict. Neil will not only cry and fake an injury for attention, but has no etiquette when it come to operating a motor vehicle. I feel they saw this as well with his presence when handing down the verdict.
Your complaints are heard, but.....
As a past resident of juneau for 10 years, and growing up with both of the two individuals. I completely agree with the judges verdict. Neil will not only cry and fake an injury for attention, but has no etiquette when it come to operating a motor vehicle. I feel they saw this as well with his presence when handing down the verdict.
Why?
With this kind of treatment why would you want to change your behavior, I just hope I don't know the next person this clown pulls a gun on. I used to get harder sentences from speeding citations.