This convicted felon had his AA Sponsor get on the stand on his behalf to help this man get the ‘AA get out of jail card’ , and it worked! This gun wielding felon gets probation, even though the judge found his past violence and criminal background make him “a huge risk” for probation! The prosecutor wanted 5 years jail time considering this was his 3rd felony conviction! I guess that makes him a huge risk for those at AA meetings too.
Wow! Look out everyone at your NA/AA meetings! We just can’t keep up with all the articles of violent felons being mandated to the 12 step rooms of AA. Minors should not be allowed in adult meetings period.
Quincy man gets probation for incident involving gun outside tavern
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
A Quincy man was sentenced Thursday to spend 60 days in jail in connection with an incident involving shooting a gun in front of a tavern last September, but he avoided a prison term by being placed on probation.
Justin Cowan, 38, pleaded guilty in March to being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon in exchange for four other counts being dropped. Authorities said last September, Cowan got into an altercation with a woman inside Buddie’s Tavern at Sixth and Payson. He was outside of the bar when he pointed a gun at three men before the weapon discharged, and the bullet hit the sidewalk, then hit one of the three men in the leg.
Cowan was put on probation for 30 months. He served 57 days in the Adams County Jail after his arrest.The victim was not seriously injured. Cowan, who has 1996 convictions for aggravated battery and for stealing a gun, said he’s attending meetings, is working full time and has changed his ways.
Cowan apologized before being sentenced by Judge William Mays, calling himself a “humbled man” and asking for the judge to not send him to prison or to the county jail. Cowan said he’s been sober since his arrest.
Mays says he was bothered by the fact Cowan was on bond for a DuPage County domestic battery charge involving the same woman he had the encounter with inside Buddie’s Tavern.
“When you get drunk, there is some kind of violence involved, and that scares me,” the judge said.Mays also chastised Cowan for missing self-help and other meetings. Cowan said he missed them because he’s been working as an air purifying system salesman.
“Your No. 1 goal in life should be recovery, not your employment,” Mays said.
The judge said he’d be second-guessed by some for not sentencing Cowan to prison and called the probation sentence a “huge risk.”
Cowan said he was extremely intoxicated when he went to the bar that day, and that he didn’t take his alcohol addiction seriously until after the incident. Defense attorney Don Schuering put Cowan’s good friend, his boss and his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor on the witness stand to testify on his behalf. They said he was hard working, had a good attitude and appeared to have turned a corner in his life.
Assistant State’s Attorney Anita Rodriguez asked for a five-year prison sentence, noting this was Cowan’s third felony conviction. She also said it was apparent “from the defendant’s history” what his intentions were the day of the incident, and that he’d previously harassed her and ran her off the side of the road in his car.