Gosh, so many gun owners seem to be having trouble doing two things at once lately. And all while behind the wheel. First there was the Florida dood who was, er, distracted by his paid date. Now we have the case of Alan Askwith. There he was, minding his own bidness driving through Utah with his wife and dog when the pesky voices inside — the ones that JUST WON’T SHUT UP — told him that what he really needed to do was to get away from that evil city and kill that canine from hell . . .
heraldextra.com extra brings us this gem:
Prosecutors filed the charges in January after police found Askwith and his bleeding common law wife at a hospital in Nephi. After investigating, officers discovered that Askwith had been driving south on I-15 when he decided to shoot a dog sitting on the floor of the vehicle. Askwith fired a hand gun, but instead of killing the dog he hit his wife in the leg. He then ordered his wife to dump the dog on the side of the road and when they finally reached a hospital he reportedly ran from police.
But Askwith isn’t your garden variety schmuck who just had a little trouble shooting while driving.
During Askwith’s hearing on Monday afternoon, prosecutor Chad Grunander described the case as bizarre, saying that though Askwith was found competent he may have mental health issues. Court documents also previously added that Askwith claimed to be fleeing an evil city and trying to shoot an evil dog.
Mental health issues? Alan? Get outta town!
Defense attorney Clayton Simms asked the judge to impose jail time, rather than prison, noting that Askwith makes a considerable contribution to his family by taking care of his kids and being “Mr. Mom.”
“He has tremendous family support,” Simms added.
Yeah, we’re sure leaving Al with the kids all day is exactly what’s in the best interests of the family and the people of the Beehive State. So on Monday Askwith was sentenced to a year in the county jail rather than a stretch in the state pen. He was probably worried there’d be too many dog lovers in the big house, thus reducing his popularity. So we’ll be forwarding his IGOTD trophy to him care of the Utah County Jail. And we won’t be at all surprised if we hear that it starts talking to him at some point, too.
