Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Purifoy To Decide on Buchheit Plea (cont)

e wanted until shortly before the trial was to begin.

He said when the plea agreement was first discussed, 35 years was the offer, though Henry said he believed they could get less. He also testified they were in Henry's office during the afternoon and were only given a couple of hours to make their decision as to whether or not they would accept the plea agreement. This, he said, was because Haltom was only going to be in his office for an hour or two and needed to know before leaving.

It was his (Charles') understanding his son would only have to serve 25 percent to 33 percent of the sentence and could get off with good behavior. The figures of seven and eight years was "kicked around" he said, with 10 being the highest mentioned.

According to the father's testimony, the family canceled their newspaper subscription and listened to no broadcast accounts of Craig's trial. He said a neighbor would cut stories about the Craig trial out, giving them the rest of the paper because his wife couldn't handle it.

"We were scared," he said. "We'd never had any dealings with the law before. We knew in seven or eight years he (Keith) would still be a young man and have time for a life. We wouldn't have agreed to the plea if we'd known about the 70 percent rule."

Charles Buchheit said Dickerson called them saying Henry would be taking over the case.

He said Dickerson was first selected after calling another attorney he knew who had represented him in a case with the phone company. This attorney suggested Dickerson to represent his son.

According to the senior Buchheit, Dickerson was formerly from Prescott and the family thought this would help. Dickerson, he said, was their second choice, as their first pick had already been taken and couldn't help them with this case.

He also agreed the family was content with Henry's service until after the plea when they learned of the 70 percent rule and discovered Keith would have to serve almost 23 years before being eligible for parole.

"We felt Keith was a minor participant and should get a lot less than Toby," he said. Buchheit's dad told the court he had read some of the files and heard some of Shane Henry's testimony during Craig's trial. Henry was an eyewitness to the trio reportedly beating McKinnon to death.

The elder Buchheit said Henry was mistaken in what he had seen at the time, as his son was not heavily involved in McKinnon's being beaten to death.

According to Buchheit's father, Henry, the attorney, never said they should consider the fact Keith could serve the entire time.

"Never in our wildest dreams did we think he'd serve 70 percent," he said. "We knew he could get life and life meant life."

Haltom said it went beyond the scope of the imagination the family wouldn't follow a case their son was involved in. He said once the plea agreement was reached, two articles (entered as proffered evidence) plainly stated Buchheit would have to serve 70 percent of his sentence.

Rosenzweig argued Henry's counsel was ineffective because the Buchheits were never specifically informed Keith would have to serve 70 percent of the time agreed to. He said Henry testified he did not know Arkansas law and had never heard of the 70 percent rule. Because of this, he said, the plaintiff asked the court to withdraw the guilty plea.

Haltom responded citing Arkansas case law concerning the 70 percent rule and what constituted ineffective counsel.

He argued Henry was not ineffective as Buchheit's attorney and reminded the court the barrister had already testified he was, in fact, ready to go to trial and could have provided an adequate defense.

Haltom also said Craig's testimony showed Buchheit to have been a major player in McKinnon's death.

According to Craig's testimony during his trial in August, while he (Craig) was on McKinnon's chest beating him with his fists, Buchheit was kicking him (McKinnon) in the head.

In spite of the family not being informed of the 70 percent rule, Haltom argued, the petition should be denied.

Purifoy, after a short deliberation, said his decision must be rendered in writing, and this would be done as soon as possible.

Following the hearing, Rosenzweig said he had presented the facts important to Henry's conceding no knowledge of the 70 percent rule and not informing his client of the law.

Buchheit, he said, was under the impression he would only serve 7-10 years and not 22.

According to Rosenzweig, when the 70 percent rule was enacted in 1995, it wasn't heavily publicized at the time.

He said should Purifoy deny the petition, he would appeal the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Haltom said the law doesn't support the plaintiff's arguments and there was no case on point of any violations occurring.

He said the testimony the family didn't follow the Craig trial was unbelievable as it involved their son.

"They're trying to get out of something," he said. "I wish Henry had told them about (the 70 percent rule) and we wouldn't be here. He was not ineffective counsel."

Both Rosenzweig and Haltom agreed it could take a couple of weeks before Purifoy renders his decision.