Prison term ordered in gun case

A man who has already spent about a third of his life behind bars was sent back for another 15 ½ years after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to a gun possession charge in connection with a double shooting in January.

The incident was one of a spate of gang-related shootings earlier this year in Spokane.

Danial J. Dublin, 34, who has a history of assaults involving guns, raised the ire of U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush.

“I have serious reservations about accepting this agreement,” Quackenbush said. Dublin’s criminal record “raises serious questions in my mind … if Mr. Dublin needs to be incarcerated for all or the rest of his life because he is such a danger to others in society.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aine Ahmed said pending first-degree assault and kidnapping charges in state court could leave Dublin with enough convictions to invoke three-strikes sentencing laws, meaning he would be held in prison for life without the possibility of parole.

“Because of the pending state cases, we thought 188 months was appropriate,” Ahmed said.

Dublin was arrested after witnesses implicated him and Philip J. Ruiz in an early morning double shooting Jan. 12 that injured Tony I. Figueroa and Apolonio J.J. Saldana at 311 E. Liberty Ave.

Dublin was also named a suspect in the case in 2012 where a young woman claimed she was bound with duct tape, kidnapped in Spokane and dumped in the woods near Springdale as two men fired shots at her.

In April, detectives recommended first-degree kidnapping and attempted first-degree murder charges against Kirk A. Beaulieu, 31, and court records identified Dublin – also identified in court records as Daniel J. Dublin – as the second suspect.

Defense attorney Syovata Edari said Dublin had a chaotic childhood and that he began taking drugs as a teenager.

“It’s somewhat absurd to me that a child with that history … that there was not some kind of intervention,” Edari said.

Quackenbush agreed, saying that responsibility started with his family.

Dublin’s mother, Ann Beaudry, said she raised Dublin as a single mother but he needed a father in his life.

“He really looks terrible on paper … but he’s got love and kindness in him,” Beaudry said, crying. “I know he has to be punished for the stupidity he has done. But he is a good man. If you could, please find some mercy.”

Dublin also took responsibility for his most recent conviction.

“I’ve had a chance to take a look at my life. In doing so, I’m a changed man,” he said to the judge. “I hope to one day come back to society in a good way.”

Quackenbush implored Dublin to be “brutally frank” and write to his 15- and 13-year-old sons to explain to them the repercussions of a violent lifestyle.

“That is something you can give,” Quackenbush said, “because they are now at that age where your life seemed to go wrong.”