Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Purifoy To Decide on Buchheit Plea

Whether or not Keith Buchheit will get his wish is unknown at this time.

Buchheit, who entered a plea of guilty of first degree murder in the beating death of Jake McKinnon, received 32.5 years as his sentence. Upon learning he would have to serve 70 percent of this time, or 22 years and nine months, Buchheit's attorney petitioned the court to overturn his plea and grant him a jury trial.

First degree murder is a class Y felony. It carries a sentence from 10 to 40 years of life in prison.

His hearing was held Wednesday, March 4, at the Nevada County Courthouse with 8th Judicial District Judge Philip Purifoy as the presiding judge.

Jeff Rosenzweig, Buchheit's attorney, made the motion to relieve the agreement citing rules 26 and 37.

He said since Buchheit had entered the plea the United States Supreme Court has amended rule 26.1 and it should not be held applicable in this case.

The basis of Buchheit asking to have his plea removed is his previous counsel, Craig Henry, was ineffective and did not tell him he would have to serve a minimum of 70 percent of his sentence under Arkansas' truth in sentencing law, before being eligible for parole or any other type or release.

Buchheit said had he been informed of this he would not have accepted the negotiated plea arrangement, instead taking his chances at a jury trial. He also said his counsel was not prepared to go to trial on the date it was scheduled in November, 1997.

After hearing the arguments from the defense witnesses and the state, Purifoy said he would make his decision as soon as possible. The decision, by law, must be done in writing and be based solely on legal facts.

Henry, during his testimony, informed the court he took the case over from Texarkana attorney Paul Dickerson after Dickerson found himself in legal problems. Dickerson subsequently surrendered his Arkansas law license, but can still practice in Texas.

Henry told the court he was not familiar with Arkansas' 70 percent rule and, in fact, never told his client how much time he would have to serve if convicted.

Another area of contention for Buchheit was he alleges he was told he would only have to serve one-fourth or one-third of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

Henry told the court he had informed the Buchheit's, Keith and his father, Charles, they should assume he would do the full sentence if convicted or on the plea agreement. He said paroles are left in the hands of the parole board and not the courts.

According to Henry, "good time," or time served in prison without the suspect being in trouble, was never brought up or discussed.

In fact, Henry said the only time parole was discussed came after the plea agreement was reached.

Henry testified he had sought documents from the Toby Craig trial, primarily portions of the transcript, and did not receive them until shortly before Buchheit's trial was to begin.

Craig was the first of three charged with McKinnon's murder to go on trial. In August 1997, he was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Henry sought a continuance of the trial, but this was denied. However, under questioning from Rosenzweig, Henry said he could not recall whether or not he told the court he was ready for trial or not, but probably did.

When cross examined by 8th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Brent Haltom, Henry said he was, in fact, prepared to go to trial and did have the documents requested.

But, he said, he had asked for a pathologist, which had not been approved by the court. He added he had not had time to study the documents receive.

Henry, when reexamined by Rosenzweig, said there was no doubt he and Buchheit had long discussions on the issue of parole and Buchheit was told he should assume he would have to serve the full sentence. "I did not know of the floor of 70 percent," he said.

Henry, under re-cross, said he had been at the Craig trial for the entire portion of the prosecution's case, though wasn't present for the defense, and was, in fact, Buchheit's counsel at the time. He also admitted being at the trial as preparation for Buchheit's case.

Buchheit followed, saying he had never been told of the 70 percent rule, and didn't learn of it until he had been in jail for a week and a half. Family members also learned of this law shortly after his incarceration.

Buchheit said there was no way he would have agreed to the plea arrangement had he known this.

He told the court the documents from Craig's trial came at the "last minute" as the defense was preparing its case and his attorney didn't have time to properly study them.

Originally, Buchheit was offered a 35 year sentence, but this was reduced to the 32.5 years he accepted.

He said he understood he would serve 8-10 years if he behaved while in prison. This, he added, is a big difference from 32 years.

According to Buchheit's testimony, he and Henry never talked more than 15 minutes about the time he would have to serve, and he was informed he would only have to serve a portion of his sentence, not the full amount.

He added Henry told him he was not ready for the trial, which had an effect on his decision to accept the plea arrangement.

However, Buchheit could not be sure exactly what was discussed and when it was talked about. He recalled something about a pathologist, but didn't know the specifics of why one was wanted.

Haltom asked whether or not Henry was being paid to represent him or not, and was told yes.

Buchheit admitted Dickerson hadn't been his attorney long before turning the case over to Henry. He also agreed the family had been satisfied with what Henry had done until learning of the 70 percent rule.

Dickerson, Buchheit said, told him Henry was a good attorney. Buchheit also said Henry was the lawyer he wanted at the time.

Buchheit told the court this was his first brush with the law and he was unfamiliar with the judicial system.

According to his testimony, Buchheit didn't keep up with Craig's trial, never read any newspaper account, listened to the radio or saw a televised report on it. He said he learned of Craig's being found guilty and sentence from someone else.

He said part of the information Henry wanted from the Craig trial was testimony tying him to the crime. "I know he (Craig) implicated me in the murder," he said. "At the time I felt the plea was in my best interest."

Rosenzweig had his client state he (Buchheit) had no legal training and depended on Henry's knowledge and skills, and understood his former attorney was not fully prepared to go to trial on his behalf.

His father, Charles, told the court he attended several conferences between Henry and his son, and understood the attorney didn't get the transcripts h