Driver in Fairbanks gang shooting sentenced to prison
Published Thursday, October 22, 2009
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — A Fairbanks man received an eight-year sentence Wednesday for his role in a gang-related drive-by shooting and a serious assault that occurred earlier this year.
Keith Gerlinger, 18, pleaded guilty last month to felony counts of weapons misconduct and assault to resolve the shooting case and an unrelated assault at the Airport Way Fred Meyer. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, 3 1/2 years of the sentence is suspended time and he will be on probation for four years.
Gerlinger, who has been identified as the driver in the shooting, also agreed to testify against co-defendant Jared Jermain Askew, the 21-year-old alleged shooter. Askew was originally scheduled to go to trial next week, but is now expected to enter a change of plea on Tuesday.
Assistant District Attorney Joe Dallaire said the plea deal was mainly motivated by Gerlinger’s willingness to testify against Askew. He called Gerlinger “a remorseless, deliberate criminal bent on violence and destruction of property.”
Dallaire also warned Gerlinger that law enforcement would be keeping a close eye on him when he’s released.
He said that Gerlinger’s chances for rehabilitation are “non-existent.”
“I am certain he will spend all eight years in jail,” Dallaire said.
Gerlinger responded by calling Dallaire an expletive, his only statement to the court.
“This activity is just out of hand and the sentences are going to reflect that,” said Superior Court Judge Michael MacDonald, who approved the plea agreement.
Authorities say that Gerlinger and Askew drove to the 1400 block of 24th Avenue in the early morning hours of May 16 so that Askew could fire four or five shotgun rounds at a house. Shots were reportedly also fired at a 26th Avenue home. No injuries were reported.
Askew told police he wasn’t trying to kill anyone, but the shooting was in retaliation for someone pulling a gun on him earlier in the day.
In the Fred Meyer case, Gerlinger is accused of going up to a man with little provocation on April 7 and punching him in the face, breaking his jaw. He has agreed to pay about $9,000 restitution to the victim in the case.
The shooting is believed to be part of an ongoing conflict between the Bloods and Crips street gangs in Fairbanks. Askew is believed to have connections to some of the men involved in a gang-related shooting that occurred in August 2008 on College Road.
The College Road shooting, which occurred in daylight and put multiple innocent bystanders at risk of being shot, was itself retaliation for several brawls between the gangs in the summer of 2008.
As a condition of his probation, Gerlinger will also be prohibited from wearing gang colors or associating with known gang members.
Community Discussion
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Kudos to you ADA Dallaire! It's about time someone finally called a spade a spade and stood up for our community.
So if his chances for rehabilitation are "nonexistant", why do you give him a plea deal for testifying against someone?
truthinnews... did you ever think about the fact that Gerlinger was just the driver in this shooting? Maybe it was worth giving him a plea deal to get the testimony against the actual shooter...? Just something to think about...
I thought about it fbksgal, but if I was the Assistant DA and someone called me an "expletive", I wouldn't be feeling too kind.
... not to mention that he broke someone's jaw and their chances of getting the $9000 restitution out of him are virtually non-existant too.
Oh come on if he works forty hours a week for eight years he will to pay off $7654 of that $9000 granted no money for drugs after that 8 years...oh well will learn how to make hooch in prison.
Whatever happened with those guys that shot up College Road a year ago?
10 cent solution.
just wait the gang wannabe are going to be back out shooting up the streets again.the only way to stop it is either shoot back at the thugs or go back to giving them a blue ticket. with the blue ticket you will have the aclu on your case because that means if you throw them out of the state someone else has to deal with them and we can not have the lawyers not having enough clients to keep them flush and help them get into politics. as we know politicans like to stick their hands into your pockets and take your money to support their pet projects.
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Every time the economy gets a little rough in this town the rats come out. Take in the addition of crack and we get a downward spiral. We need to do more to remedy this with out kids before they get to this point.
Slider - they (the gang members of the College Rd shootings in 2008) were released back to the military so that they could go to Iraq with the idea that when they return, there will be a trial. Cute Huh?
If it looks like a banger, talks like a banger, and acts like a banger, then it's a banger not a wannabe.
Agreed, they are not wannabe's. They are gang-bangers. The thing is, hollywood and rap have glorified gang-bangers and have made it seems that there is some sort of untouchable quality to the lifestyle. As with most of the things that come from hollywood and record labels, it's all fiction.
The only people who see gang-bangers as "hard" are other loser gang-bangers. People who DON'T have to lean on a crutch of violence, drugs, and intimidation to make it through life call them wannabe's because they've bought into the glorification, but don't. Call them what they are. They are the lowest of cowards, unwilling to deal with life with integrity because it's too hard. It's much easier to weild a gun with no thought or self-control; much easier to intimidate; much easier to smoke or snort life's problems away. Yes, a life where you have to be responsible is far too hard, too challenging, and they cannot handle it.
There's nothing glorious about being a gangbanger. Gangbanger=pathetic. So call them what they are.
he will be doing 3 years as a rat,,,and he ratted on a gangbanger,,, so the the chances of him making it back to the street are about 50-50
Olderbutwiser - So would they be back now?
Pretty sad to see this sort of behavior, and an individual who has 'almost no probablitity of reforming', back on the streets so soon.
However, this is one time I can support the DA's dealing on the plea. It's very hard to get much solid evidence in a case like this, and if this guy hadn't rolled, chances are pretty good that the PD would not have been able to pin the actual shooter, at all.
All I can say is, we, as a community, a State, and a nation, have GOT to take the money out of this type of situation. All the illegal drug trade money empowers this sort of activity, makes it look attractive to young, down and out, kids, looking for a way to be big and powerful.
My congratulations to prosecutor Dallaire in this case. Thanks for getting this guy off the street for a rather lenghty time given that he also agreed to testify against his co-defendant in exchange for some amount of leniency. The fact that he referred to prosecutor Dallaire as an expletive in court should be seen by the prosecutor as a badge of honor. Keep up the good work.
Maybe I watch too much National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and the like but from what I have ascertained from these shows is that he is now considered a "rat" in gang culture and therefore a marked man among his own. Maybe I'm wrong and am likely giving him too much credit by calling him a man.
Excuse me ATWAR, but who are you at war with the music or these few dummies in our community, I mean how in the hell does rap music have anything to do with those idiots. If they were listening to country music or techno that wouldn't have happened, give me a break!
Congratulations to ADA Dallaire. Let's see a lot more sentences of this manner for the rest of our crime problems.
I just had a thought: does time spent in-state while incarcerated count towards your residency status for PFD? I wonder how much the PFD could save each year if they didn't pay to felons.
Umm, is it just me? The CBC's are facing sentencing for approximately 5 years (give or take) and this violent criminal is facing sentencing for 5 years (give or take)...WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?!!?!?!
Someone on this post asked about the PFD....How is this? Get rid of it and hopefully, the influx of debris that it brings up will cease?!?!?
Time for these "changed" elected officials to START doing there jobs and passing legislation to STOP this type of activity.
Does anyone remember the good old days of when riff raff came up here, and the State Troopers used to escort them on a plane out stating that if they came back into Alaska, they would immediately go to jail? I miss those days!
atwar is partly correct in the rap music containing words that promote anti social songs. mostly gangster rap.
that are many different types of rap but the popular rap seems to be the negitive type.
google or you tube "grits" and youll get positive rap, good luck getting these types of boys to listen to it though.
Actually they refer to him as a snitch, rather than a rat. Rat is old school. As a snitch he won't be very popular but I have heard people in that situation get some protection while at prison. I not sure though as I have never had the doubious pleasure of going there.
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