A former state corrections officer was not charged with aggravated assault after an armed standoff with police at his Tempe home.

The Maricopa County Attorney kept his promise to explain his decision.

Tempe police said Charles Ryan pointed a gun at officers during a standoff at his home in 2022.

However, County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said body camera footage does not show Ryan intentionally pointing the gun directly at the officers.

“He's got a gun in his hand, he's moving it around, and at some point it's going to get past the officer,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell argued that based on extensive body camera footage, Ryan's medical records and interviews with Tempe police leaders, prosecutors cannot prove that Ryan intended to endanger the lives of officers. I decided that.

Ryan pleaded no contest to the gun charge, which prosecutors had hoped would qualify as a felony.

Ryan's attorney then tried to have his client's crime classified as a misdemeanor.

Mitchell said Judge Jeffrey Fish made the appropriate decision to make the crime a felony.

“We believed the judge would consider the entire case as we did,” Mitchell said.

Fish sentenced Ryan to two years of supervised probation for disorderly conduct with a firearm.