HUTCHINSON, Kan. – A 22 year old Hutchinson area man arrested after he allegedly led officers on a high speed chase now wants to withdraw his plea in the case.
If Benjamin McKinney is allowed to withdraw the plea, he’ll face charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony flee and elude, felony theft, misdemeanor possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal use of a financial card and no drivers license as well as some other misdemeanor traffic charges.
In court, McKinney was under the impression that his desire to withdraw the plea had already been granted when in fact, Judge Tim Chambers merely assigned a new attorney so he could work with McKinney in seeking that request. His attorney, Steve Osburn indicated to the judge that his client still wants to withdraw the plea, so the judge gave him 10-days to file a motion with that request and the matter will then be set for hearing.
The case starts in June of last year with a stolen vehicle reported to Hutchinson Police. The vehicle was spotted in Haven and that led to a sheriff deputy attempting to make a traffic stop on K-96. McKinney allegedly refused to stop leading to a chase that went across the eastern part of the county, briefly into Harvey County and ended near Trails West and Worthington Roads after he allegedly drove into a ditch.
The keys were apparently left in the vehicle and there was also a credit card inside that was allegedly used in Wichita leading to the charge of criminal use of a financial card.
McKinney was on probation for another flee and elude case from 2013 and a new date for a hearing is this latest case will be coming up.