Richard K. Allen

Richard K. Allen
District Attorney of Anchorage
Assumed office
October 2017
Appointed by Jahna Lindemuth
Preceded by Clint Campion
Director of the Alaska Office of Public Advocacy
Assumed office
2011
Personal details
Born c. 1974 (age 44)
Alma mater The University of Texas at San Antonio (B.A.), University of Idaho College of Law

Richard K. Allen is the Anchorage District Attorney. Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth appointed him to the position in October 2017. Allen replaced Clint Campion, who resigned on October 6, 2017, citing personal reasons.[1]

Allen attended high school in Johannesburg from 1991 to1992. He graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1996 and received his JD from University of Idaho College of Law in 2000. He was in private practice from September 2000 to December 2003.[2]

Allen began his career in Alaska in 2004 as an assistant district attorney in the Palmer, Alaska District Attorney office. In 2011, Allen became director of the Office of Public Advocacy (OPA) within the Alaska Department of Administration.[3]

Sentencing Controversy

In September 2018, Allen's office entered into a plea bargain with lawyers for Justin Scott Schneider, a former FAA air traffic controller who allegedly kidnapped a native Alaskan woman in the middle of the day from a gas station, choked her until she passed out and then masturbated over her.[4][5] A grand jury indicted Schneider on four felony counts of kidnapping and assault in August 2017.[6]

According to charging documents, the 25 year-old victim was “was very traumatized, and was very emotionally upset recalling the event... to the point where she couldn’t hardly speak.” She told Detective Brett Sarber that Schneider "violently grabbed her neck in a front choke hold with both hands and told her if she screamed, he’d kill her."[7]

In exchange for Schneider's guilty plea, Allen's office dropped the four felony charges brought by the grand jury to one count of second-degree assault. Allen's office recommended a two-year sentence with one year suspended.[8]

On September 19, 2018, Judge Michael Corey accepted the plea bargain, giving Schneider credit for his year of house arrest and suspending the second year in the sentence.[7] Thus Schneider will serve no jail time.

Schneider "offered no apology or recognition of the potential long-term impacts the assault might have had on his victim." Instead he expressed gratitude for the process in comments focused on himself.[8]

Also at the sentencing hearing, Allen's Assistant District Attorney Andrew Grannik stated that "I would like the gentleman to be on notice that is his one pass — it’s not really a pass — but given the conduct, one might consider it is.”[7] In addition, Grannik referred to Schneider's having lost his air traffic controller job as "life sentence."[9]

In response to citizen outrage at the reduced sentence and Grannik's comment about Schneider getting "a pass," the Alaska Department of Law issued a statement after the September 19, 2018 sentencing hearing.[9][10][11]

In a news release, the director of the Alaska Department of Law Criminal Division, John Skidmore, said that "Alaska law allows an offender to receive credit for any time spent on an ankle monitor or under house arrest against any jail sentence imposed." In addition, he said that "contact with bodily fluid such as semen is not categorized as a sex crime under Alaska law."[12]

Thus Schneider will not have to register with the state as a sex offender. However, one of the conditions of his three-year probation is sex-offender treatment and monitoring. Should he violate those terms, he will serve time in jail.[9]

Skidmore also said that Grannick's comments were "unfortunate and misunderstood."[12] Schneider's sentence "doesn't come anywhere close to being a life sentence," Skidmore told the Alaska Daily News.[9]

Gov. Bill Walker "issued a statement saying the sentence was insufficient and saying he wants to toughen the law." He stated that he would propose legislation that makes "unwanted contact with semen a sex crime."[9]

References

  1. ↑ Sullivan, Sidney (2017-10-17). "Rick Allen appointed as new Anchorage District Attorney". KTUU. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  2. ↑ "Richard Allen, Linked In". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  3. ↑ News Release, State of Alaska (2017-10-17). "Attorney General Appoints Rick Allen as New Anchorage District Attorney". Alaska Business Magazine. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  4. ↑ Klint, Chris (2017-08-10). "Charges: Woman strangled by air-traffic controller thought she was 'going to die'". KTVA. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  5. ↑ Wang, Amy B. (2018-09-22). "Man accused of kidnapping woman and masturbating on her is given 'one pass,' won't go to prison". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  6. ↑ News Release, State of Alaska (August 16, 2017). "Justin Schneider Indicted for Kidnapping and Assault". Alaska Department of Law. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  7. 1 2 3 Tunseth, Matt (2018-09-21). "Former Eagle River man who strangled woman reaches plea deal with prosecutors". Chugiak-Eagle River Star. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  8. 1 2 "No jail time for man who pleaded guilty in strangling assault". KTVA. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 DeMarban, Alex; Hollander, Zaz (2018-09-23). "State defends no-jail sentence in Anchorage assault case". Alaska Daily News. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  10. ↑ "Outrage from Alaskans over Schneider plea deal, state says the law was followed". 2018-09-22. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  11. ↑ "State defends no-jail sentence in Anchorage assault case". Associated Press. 2018-09-22. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  12. 1 2 State of Alaska, News Release (2018-09-21). "Justin Schneider Sentenced in Accordance with Current Law". Alaska Department of Law. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
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