Former Arizona Corrections director pleads no contest in armed standoff with officers at his home
By The Associated Press on November 14, 2023.
PHOENIX (AP) – Former Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan has pleaded no contest Tuesday to a disorderly conduct charge for an encounter in which police say he fired a gun inside his Tempe home in early 2022 and pointed a firearm at two officers during a three-hour standoff. The maximum sentence Ryan, who retired as corrections director in September 2019, could receive is two years in prison. Ryan’s trial on charges of unlawful discharge of a firearm and disorderly conduct had been scheduled for Nov. 20. Police were called to the house on Jan. 6, 2022, on a report that Ryan had shot himself in the hand. It was later revealed by police that the hand injury was caused by a less-than-lethal projectile shot by police after Ryan pointed a handgun at officers. They say the projectile was found during surgery. 4-3
