[Vision2020] Convicted murderer John Lee attempts to withdraw his guilty plea

[Janesta Sullivan]

He. Killed. Three. People.

No death penalty.

What does he think is going to happen a second time around?

He is where he belongs.



On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 7:19 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of *KLEW News *at:
>
> http://klewtv.com/news/local/convicted-murderer-john-lee-
> attempts-to-withdraw-his-guilty-plea
>
> ———————————————
>
> Convicted murderer John Lee attempts to withdraw his guilty plea
>
> MOSCOW, ID — A Moscow man serving three life terms in prison for three
> counts of first-degree murder, continues to maintain his innocence. John
> Lee has been appealing his plea for about more than a year now, arguing his
> untreated mental health conditions clouded his judgement.
>
> John Lee continues his fight to withdraw his Alford plea. An Alford plea
> is a form of a guilty plea, meaning he maintains his innocence, and doesn’t
> admit to the crime. But he acknowledges there’s enough evidence against him
> for a conviction.
>
> “He was experiencing or had perceptions of delusions that people were out
> to get him, that he would attribute malicious intent to behaviors of other
> individuals,” said psychologist Dr. Rahn Minagawa.
>
> The defense’s lone witness, Doctor Rahn Minagawa, said to his knowledge,
> Lee’s mental state did corrupt his plea decision. Lee has been diagnosed by
> multiple psychologists as a paranoid schizophrenic, and he’s also on the
> Asperger’s autism spectrum. But the prosecution argues Dr. Minagawa’s
> claims are unsubstantiated.
>
> "He did not conduct any independent testing,” said prosecutor Mia Vowels.
> “The method by which he followed was suspect. It is not consistent with the
> methods based on the research that other doctor said should be followed."
>
> The prosecution called John Lee’s former attorney Charles Covis to the
> stand. Covis said Lee was manipulative throughout the time he was his
> counsel, and he actually tried to withdraw his plea well over a year ago.
>
> "I told John, I said, what's a good legal reason, usually it's new
> evidence, that type of thing, something we couldn’t discover before,” he
> explained. “We discussed that a little bit and then it just kind of went
> away.”
>
> Based on Covis’s testimony, Mia Vowels believes Lee’s history shows his
> latest effort to withdraw his plea, is also deceptive.
>
> "He clearly understood. And he made a point to testify that he felt the
> defendant was manipulative, what does the judge want to hear, what does the
> state want to hear,” said Vowels.
>
> The hearing took about six and a half hours and during this time, Lee
> didn’t move, and kept his eyes cast down.
>
> Judge John Stegner didn’t issue a ruling Wednesday. He wants to review all
> of the day’s testimony. The court expects a decision in around a week.
>
> ——————-
>
> Video
> http://klewtv.com/embed/news/local/convicted-murderer-john-
> lee-attempts-to-withdraw-his-guilty-plea?external-id=
> 845060bc339e40f2a49c2f6910d3b70d
>
> ———————————————
>
> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20180109/880aa823/attachment.html>