La Plata, MD – Do what the judge tells you and chances are you’ll get a break. Don’t do what the judge tells you and you could be in trouble.
Those were the circumstances confronting Alex Christian Trollinger, 22 of Indian Head, before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Wednesday, Oct. 28 for sentencing.
Trollinger, in court in September on violating the conditions of his probation, has been told repeatedly he needed to enter treatment and had to face the fire Wednesday after he tested positive twice for opiates, morphine and marijuana.
He was also arrested Jan. 28 on possession and distribution of marijuana charges.
His original charges of second-degree assault and use of a firearm in a violent crime—a felony—stemmed from an incident dating back to July 2012, where he and another suspect broke into an Indian Head apartment and robbed the occupants at gunpoint.
Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney Constance Kopelman asked the court for incarceration.
“For the past four years, Mr. Trollinger has had a serious drug addiction,” Charles County Assistant Public Defender Gabrielle Green told the court. “He’s struggling seriously.”
Green said the defendant’s grandparents had called a drug addiction facility in California which indicated they had a bed for her client.
“Given that he has a lot of problems I would ask the court to allow him to go to this residential program where he has been accepted,” she stated. “His employer has indicated he would have a job waiting for him when he gets out of treatment.”
“I need help,” Trillinger told the court, but Bragunier had heard enough.
“I’m sentencing you to 16 years, but I’m going to suspend all but 18 months of that,” she told the defendant. “That is to be spent in the Charles County Detention Center. I am recommending jail-based treatment. Your probation will be pulled during that period you are incarcerated. You can go to the California program after you serve your sentence,” she said.
Green started to ask the court a question, but the judge interjected, “I’m saving his life. He will do in-house detox and in-house treatment.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com