News

Ex-soldier to Withdraw Guilty Plea for Murder

03/24/2008 17:15:50


AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- An appeals court has allowed a former soldier to withdraw his guilty plea in the strangling of a man who lived with his estranged wife.    

The 9th Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled Monday in the appeal by Shaun Cleland. Cleland, who got a life sentence, said the judge who accepted the plea didn't adequately explain his parole eligibility and refused to hold a hearing on his bid to withdraw his guilty plea.    

Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman says he will appeal the decision.    

Cleland pleaded guilty in 2006 in Medina to aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and kidnapping in the strangling of 19-year-old David Heinricht. The victim had been living with Cleland's wife in Brunswick while Cleland was serving in Iraq and Hawaii.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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