Justin Schneider, 34, who pleaded guilty to second-degree felony assault for kidnapping a woman, choking her until she passed out and masturbating on her, will walk away without serving any time in prison.

Anchorage District Attorney Andrew Grannik and the presiding Judge, Judge Michael Corey, told Schneider “this can never happen again” and that Schneider had received his “one pass.”

DA and Judge Give “The Gentleman” One Pass

Schneider’s guilty plea was part of a plea deal that dropped the charges of another assault, kidnapping and harassment. He faced a sentence of between five and 99 years in court.

Schneider stated in court, “I would just like to, um, emphasize how grateful I am for this process…  It has given me a year to really work on myself and become a better person and a better husband and a better father. And I’m very eager to continue that journey.”

D.A. Grannik said he made the plea deal because Schneider had no prior criminal record and appeared able to rehabilitate, according to the Alaska Star.

“That’s the reason why I made the deal that I made, because I have reasonable expectations that it will not happen [again],” Grannik said. “But I would like the gentleman to be on notice that that is his one pass. It’s not really a pass, but given the conduct, one might consider that it is.”

Judge Corey gave Schneider two years in prison with one year suspended, but because Schneider was given time served for a year of house arrest, he will escape any time in prison. He is required to wear an ankle monitor and attend counseling.

“Had Her Down Being Choked to Death”

Last August Schneider offered a woman at a gas station a ride in his car. After picking her up, he stopped on the side of the road and asked her to step out, pretending he was loading his car. He then choked her to the point of unconsciousness.

In a criminal complaint obtained by KTVA News, an Anchorage police detective wrote that the victim “said she could not fight him off, he was too heavy and had her down being choked to death. [She] said she lost consciousness, thinking she was going to die.”

When the victim came to, Schneider was standing over her and “told her that he wasn’t really going to kill her, that he needed her to believe she was going to die so that he could be sexually fulfilled,” Sarber wrote in the complaint.

The victim reported the assault, picked the assailant out in a photo lineup and reported his license plate number. Schneider was then arrested at his job as an air traffic controller at Anchorage International Airport.

The victim is reported as a 25-year old Native American woman who was so traumatized by the incident that she could hardly speak afterward.

The state defended the verdict arguing the kidnapping charge couldn’t be proved given she had gone willingly in the car with him. Additionally, they said masturbating on the woman could not be charged as a sex crime.