Moscow triple-murderer John Lee’s motion to withdraw his guilty pleas, has been denied. Lee pleaded guilty to three counts of first degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in March of 2016. Lee has since been serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lee murdered Moscow residents David Trail, Belinda Niebuhr and Terry Grzebielski in the early afternoon of January 10, 2015, and led officers on a high speed car chase that ended in Washington. All three victims were shot to death at close range. Prosecutors dropped the death penalty in return for Lee’s guilty pleas. Lee contends his mental state led to his pleas being made involuntarily, Judge John Stegner disagreed describing Lee as, “highly intelligent.” Judge Stegner continued in his ruling stating Lee avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty, and to withdraw his pleas would again allow the death penalty to receive “serious consideration… if not a likely result.” Judge Stegner concludes that it would be a “miscarriage of justice,” to reopen this case almost three years after Lee’s murders.
Via KQQQ