Press Release
Reiger Sentenced as Worst Offender for 2019 Assaults
January 2, 2020
(Juneau, AK) – Superior Court Judge Phillip Pallenberg today sentenced 60-year-old Juneau resident Larry Reiger to a 16-year term of imprisonment with no period of probation for a lengthy attack on a woman in January 2019.
After a trial in July, a Juneau jury convicted Reiger of Assault in the Second Degree, two counts of Assault in the Third Degree, and three counts of Assault in the Fourth Degree. Evidence at trial showed Reiger repeatedly strangled the victim, including once to the point of unconsciousness, placed the victim in fear for her life, punched her in the face, kicked her, threatened to kill her, and dragged her by the hair as she was trying to flee.
At Reiger’s sentencing hearing on January 2, 2020, the victim spoke of how terrified she was during the assault and that she believed she would die before she could escape, feeling surprised to have woken up after Reiger strangled her to unconsciousness.
She emphasized that what happened to her “should not happen to anyone else, ever again.”
In her sentencing memorandum to the court, Juneau District Attorney Angie Kemp detailed Reiger’s lengthy criminal history of 42 prior convictions dating back to 1983, half of which were for assault or assaultive behavior. Describing Reiger as “a clear risk to community safety [who] will almost certainly reoffend once released,” Kemp emphasized the sentencing goal of isolating him in order to protect the public from future harm. Kemp asked the court to impose the maximum term of imprisonment available under the law.
Commenting on Reiger’s “truly extraordinary criminal history,” Judge Pallenberg noted that the individual victims of Reiger’s past assaults would nearly fill the courtroom. Finding Reiger to be a worst offender, Judge Pallenberg stated that a fundamental duty of a judge is to protect the public – and he’d seen few people more dangerous than Reiger.
Judge Pallenberg sentenced Reiger to the maximum allowed 16 years of flat time imprisonment.
CONTACT: District Attorney Angela Kemp at (907) 465-3620 or angie.kemp@alaska.gov
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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.