Tempe detectives say Charles Ryan received preferential treatment after standoff

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article misattributed statements made by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.

Tempe police officers pleaded for a judge to hold former Arizona prisons chief Charles Ryan accountable for engaging them in an hourslong, drunken standoff at his residence in 2022.

In victim letters submitted before Ryan's sentencing this month, two detectives said Ryan pointed a gun at them but nevertheless received preferential treatment from the criminal justice system.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell personally signed off on a plea deal that spared Ryan from serving any time behind bars. He pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct felony and was sentenced to two years of probation.

Mitchell's reasoning for the plea deal was that Ryan was too drunk to know what he was doing, and her review of video evidence found Ryan did not point his gun at police.

But the firsthand accounts from the Tempe officers, as well as a presentencing report conducted by the county and body camera footage from Tempe police, all refute the reasoning given by the county attorney for her decision not to seek more severe charges.

County attorney: Ryan couldn't form 'intent' because of alcohol, injury

Seven homes surrounding Ryan's residence were evacuated during the January 2022 standoff. Police used a tactical armored vehicle, SWAT team, negotiators and robot. Officers who responded said they feared for their lives after Ryan pointed a handgun at them and refused to drop the weapon.

A grand jury indicted Ryan in April 2022 on two felony charges related to the incident — disorderly conduct involving weapons and unlawful discharge of a weapon.

In 2023, Ryan agreed to a plea deal, pleading no contest to a single disorderly conduct charge. The county attorney declined to discuss the deal and deferred until after the sentencing.

Ryan was sentenced to two years of supervised probation on Feb. 9, 2024. Judge Geoffrey Fish designated his crime as a felony.

At the sentencing, the judge acknowledged steps Ryan had taken since the standoff occurred. Fish said he took into account mitigating factors such as Ryan's "long service to the community," including his time as Arizona's prisons director, as well as his work as a private contractor advising the Iraqi prison system, including the infamous Abu Ghraib prison facility.

But Fish said letters from victims, including the two Tempe police detectives, weighed heavy on him.

Those letters, released by the courts after the sentencing, show the extent to which the officers were certain that Ryan had pointed a gun at them and threatened their lives.

The prosecution policies of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office require division chief approval "in any case where the defendant has pointed or discharged a firearm at a peace officer who was acting in the peace officer’s official capacity."

After the sentencing, a spokesperson for County Attorney Mitchell said Mitchell signed off on the deal.

"Part of the decision-making, under the applicable law, is a determination of intent," said Jeanine L'Ecuyer. "Did the defendant intend to place officers in harm’s way?"

L'Ecuyer said Ryan's extreme intoxication — his wife told police he had consumed half a bottle of tequila that evening — and a self-inflicted gunshot injury were factors that led Mitchell to assess that Ryan "was unable to form intent."

But letters submitted to the court by the County Attorney's Office from Tempe detectives at the scene of the incident directly challenge that interpretation of Ryan's mental state.

Echoing previous statements made in their official reports of the incident, the officers said Ryan answered the telephone asking police what they wanted, then hung up on them and refused to comply with orders delivered over loudspeakers outside his home for several hours.

The home was surrounded by police vehicles that had their emergency lights activated.

"There isn't a reasonable person that could argue that Mr. Ryan didn't know that it was the police trying to contact him," Detective Michael McCasland wrote to the court. "Based on his prior career, he was familiar with police."

He knew what emergency lights on police vehicles meant, and knew that he should comply with police commands, McCasland stated.

Detective Fahed Salameh wrote that Ryan was "belligerent and uncooperative" from the start of their "contact at the residence and with Mr. Ryan."

Another part of the county attorney's evaluation, L'Ecuyer said, was considering "whether the gun actually aimed at the officers."

"After detailed review of the video, that does not appear to be the case," she said.

Both McCasland and Salameh's accounts contradict that finding.

Police were called to the scene because Ryan's wife heard a gunshot, saw him with blood on his head, and feared he may have shot himself. As a result, the responding officers were on the lookout for a firearm when they arrived.

"Mr. Ryan had something pressed against the garage door leading into the house and was using the door as a shield so police could only see a small portion of him," McCasland wrote. "After several seconds, Mr. Ryan lowered his left hand to his side where both myself and Det. Salameh recognized that the object that had been pressed against the door was a revolver that had been pointed at police during this time."

McCasland told the judge that Ryan was given several commands to drop the firearm, but he again refused to comply.

"Mr. Ryan pointed the gun at myself and Det. Salameh for 15 seconds," McCasland wrote, causing both of them to fear for their lives.

"It is not a good feeling knowing that a gun was pointed in your direction for 15 seconds," McCasland said. "There is no legitimate excuse to point a gun at police."

Both officers told the judge that Ryan was lucky to be alive. They wrote that poor lighting prevented them from recognizing that the object in Ryan's hand was a gun until he lowered it. Salameh said that had they recognized the threat sooner, they would have responded with deadly force. McCasland was able to neutralize Ryan by shooting him with a bean bag round.

"Mr. Ryan pointed a revolver at us for several seconds, yet he is still alive," Salameh wrote. "Mr. Ryan selfishly put himself and many officers at risk of injury or death on this evening, and used an excessive amount of public resources that could have been going toward helping others who were truly in need."

Salameh told the judge that if Ryan did not face consequences, it would set a dangerous precedent.

"He will not learn the impact he had on his family and responding officers, and there will be no accountability for any felony suspect who points firearms at police officers," Salameh wrote. "It sets a precedent that any member of the public can do the same and see no consequences."

Salameh wrote that Ryan had already been shown preferential treatment — Ryan was taken to the hospital for treatment after the incident and never jailed — based on his prior job as Arizona prisons director and his influence in the community.

"If a gang member or generally any other person had acted the same way Mr. Ryan did on January 6, 2022, they would likely be in prison," Salameh wrote. He called Ryan's disparate treatment "unfair" and "disheartening."

Salameh asked the judge to designate the offense as a felony and sentence Ryan to prison.

McCasland was critical of the decision not to charge Ryan with something more severe. Even though Ryan pointed a gun at two police officers, he was not charged with aggravated assault, McCasland wrote to the judge.

"As a victim in this case, I would urge the court to hold Mr. Ryan accountable for his actions," McCasland wrote.

The presentencing report for Ryan's case, written by Adult Probation Officer Jade Crawford, who created a summary from Tempe police records, also stated that "when police arrived on the scene, the defendant pointed his gun out the door at Tempe Police Officer McCasland and Tempe Police Detective Salameh."

"The pending matter is violent in nature and posed a lethal threat to the two responding officers," Crawford wrote in her discussion and evaluation of the case.

Body camera footage provided by the Tempe Police Department shows multiple angles of Ryan seemingly pointing the weapon at officers. Officers can be heard recognizing the threat. "He's got a gun," one officer shouts. "He pointed it at us."

Despite these factors, Mitchell pointed to the burden of proving intent.

"In order to charge someone with aggravated assault, the State has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person intended to put the victim in fear for his life or of injury," Mitchell said in an emailed statement. "There was no evidence that was his intent. Members of the Tempe Police Department command staff were contacted at the time of charging and agreed that the elements of aggravated assault were not there."

Ryan's brother says former prisons director lived in fear

Members of Ryan's family and supporters from Alcoholics Anonymous wrote letters to the judge asking for leniency. One member of a sobriety support group told the judge that Ryan had been "jarringly honest" with his personal story and was "all in" with his AA program.

One of Ryan's longtime friends, Denise Stravia, said years of political pressure from running the prison system had taken a toll on him.

"It must have crushed him," she wrote of Ryan's resignation in 2019. He stepped down after former Gov. Doug Ducey initiated an independent investigation into problems in the prisons, including broken locks on cells in a prison that contributed to at least one inmate's death.

In addition to the failed locking system, Ryan's tenure as the head of the Department of Corrections included a finding of civil contempt of court for poor health care conditions in prisons and an execution in 2014 that lasted nearly two hours.

Ryan's wife told police he had been drinking heavily in the years since he left the Corrections Department and would frequently conduct armed patrols of the house while drunk because he feared people were attempting to break in.

This was a valid fear, according to Ryan's brother Bob, who told the judge that members of various prison gangs had threatened his brother's life.

"The State of Arizona was so concerned for his safety and the safety of his family that a 'safe room' was installed in his home," Bob Ryan wrote. "As a result, he was always on guard."

Bob Ryan wrote that other aspects of the job also haunted his brother.

"He was burdened with the responsibility of carrying out 34 executions as required by the state of Arizona," Bob Ryan said. "These things I've listed have affected his ability to sleep for years."

At his sentencing, Ryan said he had been alcohol-free for 25 months and would remain so for the rest of his life. He said he had apologized to his family, friends, neighbors and the Tempe Police Department for his actions.

"I fully realize the errors of my way," Ryan said. "I'm ashamed and embarrassed about my behavior."

Sentence handed down: Former Arizona prisons chief Charles Ryan gets probation for 2022 armed standoff at Tempe home

Have a news tip? Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 812-243-5582. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @JimmyJenkins.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Detectives say Charles Ryan got preferential treatment after standoff