Retired Arizona prisons boss faces sentencing on no-contest plea stemming from armed standoff

FILE - Retired Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan pauses in the courtroom after pleading no contest to a disorderly conduct charge in a plea agreement at Maricopa County Superior Court, Nov.

14, 2023, in Phoenix. Ryan is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, Jan.

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11, 2024, for the plea, which stems from an encounter in which police say he fired a gun inside his Tempe, Ariz., home in early 2022 and pointed a firearm at two officers during a three-hour standoff. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File)

PHOENIX (AP) -- Former Arizona prisons chief Charles Ryan is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after pleading no contest to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a 2022 incident in which police say he fired a gun inside his Tempe home and pointed a firearm at two officers during a three-hour standoff. The plea agreement for Ryan, who retired as corrections director in September 2019, calls for a sentence of probation and an £8,500 payment to cover the Tempe Police Department's costs in conducting the investigation. The offense carries a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison.

Police were called to Ryan's house Jan.

6, 2022, on a report that he had shot himself in the hand. It was later revealed by police that the hand injury was caused by a less-than-lethal projectile fired by police after Ryan pointed a handgun at officers. They say the projectile was found during surgery.

Ryan also was injured when he fired his gun before police arrived. He apparently suffered a cut to the forehead after a bullet hit a bathroom sink and sent a splinter of porcelain flying. Police reports say Ryan had consumed half a bottle of tequila when officers arrived at his property.

Police say he slurred his words, was antagonistic toward a negotiator and did not know why officers were there or what had happened to his injured hand.

Ryan told police he didn't remember pointing a gun at officers.

He acknowledged drinking tequila that evening, though he said he had just two shots.