Two juveniles appear in district court on gun-related charges
Two juveniles associated with local gang activity were in Judge John Parker’s court on March 3.
Geronimo Standinghorn is facing several pending misdemeanor charges.
Standinghorn, 14, also has a pending felony attempted deliberate homicide charge that was transferred to youth court last week before Judge Elizabeth Best.
Since that case was transferred to youth court, there was some discussion of consolidating his pending cases under one judge, but no decision was made during the March 3 hearing.
Jayde James, representing Standinghorn on the cases in Parker’s court, said it might make sense to put the cases before a single judge since similar reports would need to be filed, but she hadn’t yet discussed it with Standinghorn.
During the hearing, Parker asked Standinghorn if he’d read any books while in custody at the Cascade County Juvenile Detention Center.
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Standinghorn said “yeah” but when asked what books, said he didn’t really know.
Parker recommended that Standinghorn talk to JDC staff to get some books on whatever topic interest him to “make good use of your mind while you’re in there, can you do that for me?”
Another juvenile, D.L, was back before Parker on alleged violations of the terms of his release on juvenile probation.
He was sentenced Feb. 17 on a criminal endangerment charge to juvenile probation until he’s 18.
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The case is from a 2024 incident by the Papa Johns on Central Avenue West involving a firearm. He was 16 at the time.
Four days later, he was involved in an incident at the Grizzly Inn and is alleged to have brandished a firearm, which he was prohibited from having under his probation conditions, Preston Rammell, the Cascade County deputy attorney prosecuting the case, told The Electric.
Judge John Parker set his bond at $30,000.
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Parker said during the March 3 hearing that he’d just had a very serious conversation with DL at his sentencing about how fair everyone had been with him and how concerned he was with the seriousness of the charges.
“I want to make sure he doesn’t get himself shot,” Parker said. “I have no reason to believe this young man will follow my conditions at all. He looked me in the eye and yet here we are.”
Nathan Prohaska, defense attorney for D.L., said he wasn’t asking for a bail reduction but was asking for the court to grant discretion to youth court services and juvenile probation for a new potential residential placement in Belt, with the caveat that D.L. be on GPS and alcohol monitoring.
Prohaska said the potential living situation in Belt would be outside of Great Falls where most of the problematic things have occurred for D.L.
Parker interrupted and said a person can find trouble anywhere and “this man’s choices, not location, are key here.”
Another hearing will be scheduled with in the week to review whether the court will grant discretion to the probation officer under the Youth Court Act.
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To D.L., Parker said he was concerned about the teen and thought he could do well, but it’s a question of getting him into a situation where we can do it.
“We all thought you could do it, but now there’s evidence that things are worse than we thought,” Parker said.
Rammell said that D.L. hasn’t declared a gang affiliation, but hangs out with people who are gang affiliated.
D.L.’s charges in this case are from a May 2024 disturbance among teenagers involving a gun.
Alizae Fries, 19, was charged with a felony county of accountability for assault with a weapon. He entered a guilty plea in March 2025.
On May 28, 2024, officers were dispatched around 7 p.m. to the Papa John’s on Central Avenue West for a report that several males were in the alley behind the pizza shop threatening another with a gun.
The males had left, but dispatch received reports that they’d returned about 30 minutes later and were trying to fight, according to court documents.
As officers were responding, they received a report of shots being fired.
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When they arrived on scene, people came out of the Papa John’s and said the suspects had just gone down the alley. Officers recovered one 9mm shell casing in the alley, according to court documents.
Several victims were identified, ranging in age from 11 to 18, who said that D.L., a 16-year-old, had shot at them in the alley.
They said that Fries, D.L. and D.R., a 13-year-old male and a few others, had come to Papa Johns to fight two other boys, ages 13 and 15, according to court documents.
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D.R. had been threatening B.D. by phone saying he’d “shoot up his house,” according to court documents.
The victims were at Papa John’s visiting B.D.’s brother who works there, according to the police report.
They went outside and were confronted by Alizae, DR and D.L.
Alizae handed D.L. a backpack and he reached inside, pulled out a pistol, racked the slide and pointed it at the victims, firing a shot at them, according to court documents.
T.P., a 15-year-old female with the victim’s group, filmed the incident on her phone, and the footage corroborated their statements, according to court documents.
D.L. was charged in juvenile court, according to Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki.
Officers located Alizae on May 29, 2024. He told officers he’d been at the Papa John’s the previous day so D.L. and B.D.’s brother could fight one on one, according to court documents.
Alizae admitted to giving D.L. the gun in the backpack, but said he believed DL was only going to scare the group and didn’t know he would shoot at them, according to court documents.
“Although Alizae does not have a criminal history, his aid in bringing the gun and providing it to D.L. who then shot at the other group is very concerning. Also concerning is that Alizae fled the scene after the shooting,” prosecutors wrote in the 2024 charging documents.
