PHOENIX — Half a day. That's how long it took for 20-year-old Jacob Pennington to find himself back in police custody after signing the terms of his probation. The alleged member of the Gilbert Goons was found drinking underage on June 13, a direct violation of his probation.
After a review hearing on Monday, July 29, a Pinal County judge imposed a 10-day jail sentence "which the defendant is able to complete over five consecutive weekends beginning this Friday," officials with the county attorney's office said.
Pennington was sentenced to three years on probation for his role in an assault in Gilbert in November 2022. Now, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell's office is taking swift action against him.
“I think when somebody is taking probation terms, without any degree of seriousness that they're offending that quickly, we're going to file a petition to revoke," Mitchell said at a press conference Thursday.
Gilbert Police say they contacted Pennington in the passenger seat of a car at 10:45 p.m. on the same day of his sentencing hearing in Maricopa County. They allege he was drinking as a minor, a class-two misdemeanor in Arizona.
“There are terms of probation terms, one is obey all laws. Everything else is a technical term, which can be, you know, a curfew term or go to counseling term. So this is a term one violation, and we took it seriously," Mitchell said.
However, probation experts say prosecutors quickly moving to revoke someone's probation on a low-level misdemeanor charge is far from normal.
“I can't say that's common. I honestly can't," Beth Goulden, a probation consultant with 25 years of experience, said. "This is unprecedented to me. I would say I've not seen this. And if someone can show otherwise, it would be good for us to see that."
Goulden ponders why Pennington wasn't given the opportunity to address his violation by working with the Maricopa County Probation Department to get in line with the conditions of his probation, instead of moving to revoke four days after he was granted it.
“He potentially could have an alcohol issue, but I'm not sure if the probation department has had time to assess that and refer him to any mental health or substance abuse classes, treatment, any of that," Goulden said.
County Attorney Mitchell is standing by her office's decision to offer Pennington a plea deal in the first place. She claims this is due to his highest charge in the Gilbert assault only being the lowest-level felony in our justice system.
"It is a felony that if people go to trial and are convicted of it, it can turn into a misdemeanor. It is probation-eligible. It is something that it's likely that they will get probation, in fact, overwhelmingly likely that they'll get probation. And so we made that offer," Mitchell said.
At a future hearing, Pennington will go before a judge in Maricopa County who will decide if he can remain on probation or will be sent to jail for 120 days, a condition he agreed to when he accepted the plea offer.
Pennington remains on probation in Pinal County, where he was involved in an assault there in November 2023.
The Pinal County Attorney's Office calls the situation there "fluid" and says it will all "play out in due time."
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