.png)
Former Juneau principal convicted of assault after taking 60-day plea deal
- Jasz Garrett
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
Mother of victim says ‘I would’ve rather gone to trial’ and ‘he got off easy’
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
Editor’s note: The student’s mother’s last name is omitted to protect the child’s identity.
John Paul, 57, a former Juneau school principal, was convicted Tuesday at the Dimond Courthouse for assaulting an autistic seventh-grade student at the Dzantik’i Héeni campus in March.
Paul changed his plea from “not guilty” to “no contest,” agreeing to serve the minimum sentence for fourth-degree assault, a Class A misdemeanor. He is expected to serve 60 days in Lemon Creek Correctional Center — or an electronic monitoring program if approved by the Alaska Department of Corrections.
His attorney, John Roberson III, said Paul “wishes he had handled the situation differently and regrets that it escalated as it did.”
“At the same time, the resolution does not mean that Mr. Paul agrees with every allegation, characterization, or statement that has been made about the incident. He does not,” Roberson stated in an email to the Juneau Independent.
The charging document states Paul tackled and pinned the student with his body weight, causing the child “to feel crushing pain.”
Paul and his attorney denied the use of excessive force on a student when he was first charged in April. He first entered a plea of not guilty on April 23. The student was 12 at the time of the incident and is now 13.
“We do not minimize what occurred. Mr. Paul was the adult and the school administrator. The situation escalated, physical restraint was used, and the student was frightened,” Roberson told the judge. “Mr. Paul himself recognized almost immediately that he should have handled the situation differently. But the court is sentencing the whole person and the actual offense, not simply the worst characterization of a short incident.”
Judge Kirsten Swanson asked Paul if he understood that by entering the plea, he gave up his right to a jury trial.
“I don’t want to put everybody through that,” he replied.
Roberson said the 60-day agreement adequately addresses the charge and that Paul wants to move forward rather than continue litigating the incident publicly.
“I would have rather gone to trial,” the victim’s mother said in an interview following the resolution. “I would have rather had him need to face a jury of his peers. I would have rather a jury see the video. I would have rather had the judge see the video, and have him have to answer to every step of his decision-making in grabbing my child by the back of his neck and throwing him onto the concrete.”
“I feel like he got off easy,” Heather said. “I wanted him to have to answer to a jury why he picked him up, drug him probably 20 feet, and slammed his face up against a brick wall, and continued to yell at him. He wasn’t screaming. He wasn't cussing. He was doing nothing.”
She said since her son would have been expected to take a witness stand, she did not push taking Paul to trial.
“That would have been really difficult, but I feel like he got off easy for what he did to my kid,” she said.
In her victim impact statement, Heather described the trauma her son carries. She said as a parent, she continues to struggle with anger, fear and heartbreak by knowing her child was harmed by someone entrusted with protecting him. She said the emotional impact has been devastating.
“My child went to school expecting to be safe,” she said. “Instead he was assaulted by the person responsible for leading that school — someone who held a position of authority and trust, and chose to use physical force against a vulnerable child rather than protect him.”
In an interview, Heather said her son was terrified to start school again last week.
In a video shown to the Independent and described in court documents, her son was trapped underneath Paul and then pushed against a brick wall face-first. She said her son struggled to breathe while Paul lay on top of him.
“He believed he was going to die,” she told the judge.
When Paul first approached him, the student was waiting for his mom to pick him up from school. The video shows his hands were in his pockets and he was not speaking.
“What makes this especially difficult to accept is that the assault was completely unprovoked,” Heather said. “My child did not initiate the physical encounter. This was not a mutual altercation, nor was the principal responding to an act of violence from my child.”
“It has affected his sense of safety, his trust in adults and authority figures, and his ability to feel secure in an environment where he should have been protected,” she added.
She said her son is in therapy and struggling with anxiety. Heather said since he is diagnosed with autism, the disruption to safety can be particularly significant. She said this school year, he has a full-time aide.
“I was asking for that all of last year,” she said, adding she was told the Juneau School District did not have the resources to provide additional support for her son’s special needs at the time.
Paul and his attorney attended the court hearing via phone. Heather, who sat crying beside her mother in the courtroom, said this felt like another way he was avoiding accountability.
“I think it was very cowardly,” she said in an interview after the hearing.
Sherri Layne, deputy municipal attorney for the City and Borough of Juneau, said the city’s hope was Paul would take full responsibility, but a plea of no contest was acceptable since it has the same effect.
“When you think about the community condemnation that he has faced and will be facing, I think that this sentence speaks to that,” Layne said.
Heather said she was also frustrated because court hearings were pushed back three times due to ongoing plea negotiations — once while she was waiting to give her victim impact statement last week.
She added Paul asking for electronic monitoring instead of accepting jail time felt like he was further avoiding responsibility.
The judge said she was unaware if someone who committed an assault was eligible for electronic monitoring, but a request could be made.
A DOC spokesperson told the Independent there is no “one-size-fits-all” answer to the question and individuals convicted of assault in the fourth degree may be eligible, provided their offense does not involve domestic violence.
“However, factors such as criminal history, the circumstances surrounding the offense, substance abuse history, prior electronic monitoring, and public safety considerations all play a role in the DOC’s decision-making process,” wrote spokesperson Betsy Holley.
In Paul’s statement during Tuesday’s hearing, he said he spent 34 years as an educator. He has no prior criminal history. His attorney said it was a “highly specific, situational event.”
“I recognize that I’m here today because of one poor decision, but I accept that responsibility and hope that my career and my life is not defined by this one moment in time,” Paul said.
Paul was the principal at Montessori Borealis and Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi High School for three years before being placed on administrative leave on March 5, the same day the assault occurred. JSD announced Scott Jonsson as the new principal for both schools on April 24.
“I was usually very proud of my record of judgment and conduct. However, I truly wish I could go back and make a different decision in this case,” Paul said. “At the time, I think I believed that restraining the student was in his best interest and was necessary in keeping him safe, given other factors, including the weather. However, I deeply regret this decision and wish I had drawn upon the experience that I had and that I do have to recognize and choose a better course of action.”
Heather said in her victim impact statement that a complete lack of an apology and acknowledgement has made it harder on her family. Paul said he had not previously expressed remorse because his conditions of release mandated no contact with the student or the student’s mother.
“I do apologize to this student and to his family, for they deserved better from me,” he said over the phone during Tuesday’s hearing.
The judge said this conviction impacted his past career and will in the future. Swanson told Heather even if she sentenced Paul for longer, it would not change what happened to her son.
“However, him not having to go to trial, and the fact that there is a conviction of record and there is consequences, hopefully that will help him to regain some trust, whether it’s with the school system or anybody else,” she said.
Swanson accepted the deal after hearing both of their statements, stating even if it is a no contest plea, Paul is still taking responsibility. She said all he can do is go forward and do the best he can to prove it was not his usual character.
“I wish we could fix it. Very little that we can do,” Swanson told the victim’s mother.
Heather said 60 days does not represent the impact, but she agreed with the judge no amount of time could make up for the trauma her child lives with.
“My child does not have that same ability to simply serve his trauma and walk away from it,” she said.
Heather said she was upset at Paul and his attorney for using the word “restraint” to describe the assault.
“My child was not running away. He knew I was coming. He was waiting for me,” she said.
She added she was sincerely grateful for the Juneau Police Department and city attorney’s office for treating what happened with care.
“At a time when our trust in adults and institutions had been profoundly shaken, your professionalism helped restore some of that trust,” she said.
Paul is expected to surrender to authorities by Oct. 30, a date chosen to give him adequate time to apply to the electronic monitoring program and for DOC to review the request, according to his attorney. The judge had originally suggested the remand date be a month earlier.
“My child has already paid the price for something that was not his fault,” Heather said. “As his parent, I will continue to advocate for him and help him heal from something he never should have experienced. I cannot undo what happened, but I can make sure that this experience is not minimized, forgotten, or reduced to a number of days on a sentencing order.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
