Madison man charged in Evers guns incident returns to Capitol

MADISON — A Madison man who is accused of twice bringing firearms to the Wisconsin State Capitol and demanding to see Gov. Tony Evers earlier this month was free to return to the statehouse Wednesday after the Dane County District Attorney declined to pursue a new weapons charge recommended by Capitol Police.

Joshua Pleasnick, 43, faces jail time for an Oct. 4 incident during which Pleasnick is accused of going to the state Capitol shirtless and wearing a holstered handgun and demanding to see Evers. He allegedly came back to the Capitol that night with an assault-style rifle still demanding to talk to the governor.

Pleasnick was arrested again Tuesday on an additional charge related to the Oct. 4 incident. He was released from Dane County Jail on Wednesday and returned to the state Capitol to retrieve his belongings. Firearms were not released to him, according to Capitol Police.

Pleasnick was released from jail Wednesday when Ozanne declined to prosecute the new charge, according to Ozanne, who did not say why.

Capitol Police in an alert Wednesday evening said that Pleasnick is currently not barred from the statehouse after Ozanne's decision. In the alert, Wisconsin Capitol Police Deputy Chief Christopher Litzkow said "no firearms were released" to Pleasnick when he returned to the Capitol on Wednesday.

Litzkow said Capitol police requested a number of bail conditions, including barring Pleasnick from returning to the Capitol building. A judge will decide those conditions during a Thursday court appearance.

In an Oct. 5 alert from Capitol police on the initial incident, police said "while being interviewed Pleasnick said he would continue coming to the Capitol until he spoke to the Governor about domestic abuse towards men" ... "Pleasnick stated he did not own a vehicle and it is likely he has access to a large amount of weapons and is comfortable using them."

"Use extreme caution when in contact with Pleasnick. He should be considered armed," Capitol police officials said in the alert.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Madison man charged in Evers guns incident returns to Capitol