It’s a rarity for a judge to grant a defendants request to withdraw his plea, but that happened Friday afternoon in an attempted murder case. In fact, Judge Tim Chambers admitted this is the first time since he’s been on the bench.
Joseph LeShore has been awaiting sentencing for sometime now after he entered a plea to an amended charge of attempted 2nd degree murder, as well as aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and aggravated battery. He at that time admitted in court his involvement in the beating and stabbing of Jeffrey Payne.
But, now he contended that he felt coerced into entering the plea by his then attorney Alice Osburn. He testified during the hearing Friday that he had been in solitary confinement for an extended period of time and also had mental issues where he heard voices. Judge Chambers agreed that being in solitary for 50-to-60 days could have an effect on anyone. He also noted that LeShore also had mental issues and wasn’t on any medicine at the time could also be a factor in not understanding what was happening and may have gotten confused when Osburn explained the possible sentences. She was also on the stand and testified that she told him of the possible sentences he could be looking at if he excepted the plea.
Judge chambers allowed him to withdraw his plea on the attempted 2nd degree murder charge, which may not be such a good thing for him, because now he’ll face trial for the original charge of attempted 1st degree murder as well as the other charges.
One of the other six defendants, Desmund Cantu earlier entered guilty pleas in two cases, one of which involved the attempted murder and was sentenced to 84-months total or 7-years in prison. Cantu had earlier entered guilty pleas to aggravated battery, two counts of aggravated burglary and aggravated assault. All other charges including attempted 1st degree murder were dropped by the state as part of a plea agreement.
The other four charged in this case includes John Cantu, Sean Arevalo-Mendoza, Jordon LeShore and Troy Bell.
This all involved the attack on Payne back on February 18, 2013, when these men allegedly broke into his home and physically attacked and stabbed him numerous times in the leg and torso.