COURT SAYS MAN CAN WITHDRAW PLEA IN `3 STRIKES' CASE.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer The first person in Ventura County sentenced under California's ``three strikes'' law is expected back in court today to seek a trial after an appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. ruled he should have been allowed to withdraw a guilty plea to molestation molestation n. the crime of sexual acts with children up to the age of 18, including touching of private parts, exposure of genitalia, taking of pornographic pictures, rape, inducement of sexual acts with the molester or with other children, and variations of these charges. A ruling by the second Court of Appeal in Ventura in January allows Henry Arturo Diaz of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. to withdraw his guilty plea to four counts of child molestation Child molestation is a crime involving a range of indecent or sexual activities between an adult and a child, usually under the age of 14. In psychiatric terms, these acts are sometimes known as pedophilia. . Diaz was sentenced in October 1994 to six years behind bars, plus a term of 25 years to life, after pleading guilty with the understanding his plea would be considered during sentencing. Diaz, now 42, sought to withdraw his guilty plea after county probation officials questioned the trial court's authority to not impose three additional five-year prison terms stemming from three prior robbery convictions. A state appeals court ruled last year that such enhanced sentences must be imposed, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the appellate ruling in the Diaz case. Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Neil Quinn said that Diaz will withdraw his guilty plea in Ventura Superior Court today and request a trial on charges that he had sexual intercourse sexual intercourse or coitus or copulation Act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract (see reproductive system). with a 13-year-old girl. Quinn said the motion for a new trial motion for a new trial n. a request made by the loser for the case to be tried again on the basis that there were significant legal errors in the way the trial was conducted and/or the jury or the judge sitting without a jury obviously came to an incorrect result. was based on court rulings on the ``three strikes'' law. The law requires stiffer sentencing for a third conviction of certain felonies. ``The reality was the law was unclear at the time,'' Quinn said. ``As the case law had developed, you couldn't give him the deal that was made.'' Deputy District Attorney Patrice Koenig had praised the sentence. She contended Diaz deserved to spend a long time in prison, having been arrested 22 times since 1971 and having been to prison three times for armed robbery convictions. The appeals court ruling disappointed but did not surprise Koenig. ``I was of course disappointed with the ruling,'' she said. ``But these things do happen, especially when you're dealing with new laws.'' Diaz was arrested in March 1994 after police officers with a warrant to search his room for drugs found him in bed with the girl. No drugs were found, but he was arrested on suspicion of illegally having sex with a minor. The county District Attorney's Office charged Diaz with nine lewd acts with the girl. Diaz pleaded not guilty but changed his plea to guilty as a jury was being selected to hear his trial. Quinn said he advised Diaz not to stand trial. He was afraid Diaz would be convicted of all the charges and would have faced two terms of 25 years to life in prison for two incidents that occurred after the ``three strikes'' law was enacted in 1994. |
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