James Everett Dutschke, center, is lead into the Federal Building in Aberdeen, Miss., by U.S. Marshalls on Tuesday, May 13, 2014, for a sentencing hearing, but instead Dutschke withdrew guilty plea.ABERDEEN, Miss. – James Everett Dutschke is not going easily.
The Mississippi man who pleaded guilty in January to sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others changed his mind Tuesday, asking a judge to withdraw his plea just before sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock did not rule immediately on the request, telling the defense and prosecutors to lay out arguments about whether she should hold Dutschke (DUHS’-kee) to his plea, which she repeatedly described as a “contract.”
“Your filing the motion to withdraw does not necessarily mean the court will grant it,” Aycock told Dutschke. “I do want you to understand that your withdrawal is in the discretion of the court.”
Dutschke’s withdrawal came at the end of a hearing meant to determine his sentence on one count of making ricin and three counts of sending it through the mail. His targets were Obama; U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland. Poisoned letters addressed to Obama and Wicker were intercepted before delivery, but one letter reached Holland. She was not harmed.