Court decision gives Relopez the option to take back guilty plea
Jason Relopez, a 27-year-old former Utah State University student and Sigma Chi Fraternity member, has the option to withdraw his guilty plea following a ruling by Judge Brian Cannell on Wednesday.
Relopez pleaded guilty to attempted rape and forcible sexual abuse in a plea deal between his defense and the state. The deal hinged on an independent psychosexual evaluation done to determine his risk level of re-offending.
Two weeks ago Relopez’s sentencing was delayed due to some uncertainties with that evaluation. Dr. Peter Burn, who administered the test, was asked about it in court on Wednesday by the defense, the state and the judge. Burn’s report said that Relopez was a low-moderate risk to re-offend.
Represented by Barbara Lachmar, deputy county attorney with Cache County, the state asked for the test to be re-administered due to some uncertainties with the result.
In the proceedings Shannon Demler, Relopez’s defense attorney, said that the state agreed after the initial settlement that a low-moderate risk would be treated the same as a low risk with the deal and would result in one year in jail and sex-offender treatment.
That amendment was not good enough for Judge Cannell, however, and he expressed his concern in that decision being made outside of the initial deal and in the evaluation in general.
“The court determines that he is not low risk, he is low-moderate. Therefore the agreement was not met and those terms are not met,” Cannell said in his ruling. “That being the case I will absolutely give Mr. Relopez the right and ability to withdraw his plea and we can proceed with trial; that’s the court’s order.”
Both sides will now proceed with the case.
“We’ll be talking, hopefully we’ll reach a meeting of the minds between all of the parties and right now Mr. Relopez has that option,” said Barbara Lachmar, Deputy County Attorney with Cache County, after the ruling.
Lachmar said the ruling was neither good nor bad for the state.
“I really wouldn’t call it either, it’s just what the judge ruled,” Lachmar said. “We want to give Mr. Relopez the opportunity to make whatever choice he makes.”
Relopez’s defense could not be reached after the trial. We will update this story as more develops.
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