A man who was arrested twice for carrying a gun at the state Capitol earlier this month and demanding to speak with Gov. Tony Evers was arrested again Tuesday night by Capitol police.
But Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Wednesday he declined to issue the charge of carrying a concealed weapon sought by Capitol police, so Joshua Pleasnick was released from custody.
Pleasnick will instead appear in court Thursday morning to face a charge of carrying a firearm in a public building, the charge that was issued in a criminal complaint filed Monday.
State Department of Administration spokesperson Tatyana Warrick said Pleasnick was arrested after he was released from custody Tuesday night, tentatively charged with carrying a concealed weapon for an incident in the Capitol on Oct. 4.
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Pleasnick was originally slated to appear during initial appearances for persons currently held in custody, but that was canceled after Ozanne determined he would not be adding the concealed carry charge, and Pleasnick was again released from custody.
He will now appear in court, as originally planned, on Thursday morning at a session for people not currently in custody.
Pleasnick was charged Monday with carrying a firearm in a public building, a misdemeanor, after walking into the Capitol shirtless and with a holstered handgun and his dog shortly before 2 p.m. on Oct. 4. Evers was not in the building at the time.
Pleasnick told a police officer he had no intention of using his weapon but wanted to speak to Evers about men who have been abused by women but aren’t getting any help from authorities, according to a criminal complaint.
Openly carrying weapons is not allowed in the Capitol, and after being arrested and booked, Pleasnick returned to the Capitol at about 9 p.m. that day with a loaded assault-style rifle and a collapsible police baton in his backpack, the state Department of Administration has said. The building was closed by that time, but Pleasnick again demanded to see the governor and was again taken into custody.
There is no law against openly carrying a firearm on the Capitol grounds, but Warrick said on Oct. 6 that Pleasnick was also likely to be charged with carrying the baton without a concealed-carry permit. That is likely the charge Ozanne declined to file on Wednesday.
Warrick said on Oct. 6 that after Pleasnick’s second arrest on Oct. 4, Pleasnick had been taken for a psychiatric evaluation.
State Journal reporter Ed Treleven contributed to this report.
