A Pennsylvania man who is facing multiple criminal charges for robbery and burglary has filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, which he made in February of this year. He will appear in Centre County Court early next month, at which time a judge will decide whether the guilty plea should be withdrawn.

The 29-year-old man and three alleged co-conspirators were arrested in March 2010. According to police reports, the arrests were made during a robbery and following an investigation that depended largely on information provided by a confidential informant. The men were charged with multiple theft crimes for allegedly perpetrating a series of robberies and burglaries in 2009 and 2010.

The four men are also accused of kidnapping, beating and robbing a man in February 2010, and of attempting and committing armed robberies of a bar and a store in the State College area.

In February, as the criminal trial against the men was underway, the man abruptly decided to plead guilty to most of the charges against him. When the district attorney notified the judge that she planned to call the man as a witness for the prosecution, the judge declared a mistrial.

The four men have since filed an appeal seeking the dismissal of the charges, claiming that a second criminal trial after the mistrial would constitute double jeopardy.

Now, the man is attempting to withdraw his guilty plea. In his motion, he states that a language barrier prevented him from understanding his plea, and that he was misled by his defense attorney. Another attorney has reportedly been assigned to his case.

Source: Centre Daily Times, "Man accused in string of robberies wants to withdraw his guilty plea," Dec. 29, 2011