Man happy troopers didn’t shoot him; gets a year

PALMER — What most agreed was a drunken outburst — albeit one with threats to shoot troopers — landed a Wasilla man a one-year prison term Thursday.

“I’m extremely embarrassed,” Robert J. Sweeney, 43, said of the events leading up to his arrest. He said everything Alaska State Troopers have said about him was true.

“They didn’t lie one bit. They were up-front and honest about it. I appreciate them not shooting me.”

Sweeney was arrested in February at his home near Mile 3 of Fairview Loop. Alaska State Troopers said at the time that he became emotional as they spoke to him, at times threatening to shoot them.

“A drunken outburst is really what it all comes down to,” Sweeney’s attorney, Elizabeth Varela said.

Sweeney was upset because a man he loved like a son was about to be arrested for drunken driving. Troopers had seen the man’s van stuck in a ditch, looked up the registration, and showed up at Sweeney’s house.

Varela said Sweeney tried to negotiate with them, at various times, pleading, laughing, crying, and, yes, threatening.

“Periodically he would say there’s going to be a gun battle here. I’m going to go get my gun,” Varela said.

Troopers at the time said that at some point Sweeney reached behind his back, as if for a gun.

“He did move his hand to his back and it was a very drunken move and he was tazed and it was over,” Varela said.

The one-year term was the result of a plea agreement between Sweeney and the District Attorney’s Office. Assistant District Attorney Rachel Gernat said the agreement was fair.

“We’ve talked to both police officers involved in the case and they’re both completely fine with the agreement,” she said, before adding of Sweeney’s actions, “while not the most serious, they can’t be condoned. He didn’t have a gun, thank God. He didn’t have a knife, thank God.”

Superior Court Judge Vanessa White, in agreeing to accept the sentence, applauded Sweeney for deciding to quit drinking. She pointed out that Sweeney was very lucky the situation turned out the way it did.

“There were recent incidents where it didn’t take much more than what you did for the person who was being obstructive to wind up dead,” White said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.