Plesi Nichols' attorney announced today that she wishes to withdraw her guilty plea.
TRENTON -- Plesi Nichols, the Trenton woman who pleaded guilty along with her boyfriend last October to tying up, beating and starving her 8-year-old daughter in 2011, asked to withdraw her plea at her sentencing hearing today.
“For a while, she’s had some concerns about the original plea,” said Andrew Duclair, Nichols’ attorney.
There will be a hearing this summer to determine if Nichols will be allowed to withdraw. Duclair said his client knows a successful withdrawal will lead to trial.
“I spoke to her about pros and cons of making a withdrawal,” Duclair said in court.
Nichols, 35, admitted in her plea to tying her daughter to the bannister of their house on South Logan Avenue to prevent her from moving.
Nichols and her boyfriend at the time, Anthony Roberson, 30, both pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping, agreeing to 18- and 16-year sentences, respectively.
Roberson was also scheduled to appear before the court for sentencing today but did not show.
The couple allegedly subjected Nichols’ daughter and three other children to a house littered with rats, roaches, feces and rotting food.
Earlier this year, however, both of them contradicted their earlier admissions of guilt. In new statements, they both claimed that it was the other who started the abuse.
CONNECT WITH US:
On mobile or desktop:
• Like Times of Trenton on Facebook
• Follow @TimesofTrenton on Twitter