Common Law: Struggling over a plea

May 28, 20103:43 p.m.

No one knew whether Gloria Ibarra would enter a plea to killing her boyfriend or stand trial for murder. Defendants may struggle over pleas, but judges must make sure those decisions are made knowingly and freely.

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Common Law No. 20: Did he just plead guilty?

Sept. 4, 20098:01 a.m.

Everyone came to court expecting Gary Washburn to plead guilty for fleecing two 80-something women out of nearly $100,000. But Washburn’s rant ended up confusing just about everyone, especially the lawyers. Judges don’t take guilty pleas lightly, so Joe Kisner kept probing. Washburn said he wanted to accept the plea deal from the state, but his rambling said otherwise. Kisner looked to a decades-old U.S. Supreme Court decision known as “Alford” for guidance. Washburn’s attempts to plead guilty are difficult to describe. Better to just watch.

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Plea turns up record child porn stash

April 1, 20086:44 p.m.

Prosecutor Marc Bennett offered an unusual deal to Henry Nelson, a local photographer charged with having sex with an 8-year-old.

Bennett would accept a guilty plea to aggravated indecent liberties, reduced from rape, if Nelson would turn over his computer so authorities could search it without having to obtain a warrant. Bennett agreed not to charge him with extra crimes, but he could use anything he found to argue for a harsher sentence. Nelson complied.

The search turned up 30,000 sexually explicit photographs of minors — the most ever found in Wichita.

At sentencing today, Nelson’s lawyers asked for probation. After hearing about the child porn collection, Judge Joseph Bribiesca sent Nelson to prison.

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