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Idaho man asked to rescind his guilty plea to first-degree murder. What the judge ruled

Sarah A. Miller/smiller@idahostatesman.com

A judge has denied a Boise man’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea to the first-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend.

Boise resident David Randall filed a motion asking to rescind his guilty plea, after he’d confessed to killing 56-year-old Darla Fletcher, on the grounds that his attorneys pressured him, and that he suffered a history of depression.

“Immediately after pleading guilty, I realized I had made a terrible mistake,” Randall wrote in the affidavit, alongside the motion.

Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler, in a 24-page order, denied Randall’s motion.

In December 2019, Randall, 58, “bludgeoned, strangled and stabbed” his ex-girlfriend, Fletcher, according to the order and previous reporting. He’s been in custody at the Ada County Jail since his arrest, online jail records showed.

The order also provided additional information into the killing of Fletcher and said that Randall stabbed her over 50 times with a screwdriver and drumstick.

“The court finds (Randall’s) plea was made knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily,” Hippler wrote in the order obtained by the Idaho Statesman.

Randall suffered from schizophrenia, doctor says

Randall pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal on Dec. 14, 2021, to the murder charge. According to the order, prosecutors agreed to ask for a 25-year fixed sentence, with the possibility of parole, instead of life in prison.

But hours after Randall pleaded guilty, he regretted it.

The order points to a letter that Randall wrote to his son the night after his plea hearing, in which he called it the “worst day of my life” and said it was a “big mistake.”

“I pleaded guilty to my charges, and I regret it so much. … You don’t know how hard it was to plead guilty to something that I don’t remember doing and was not intentional,” Randall wrote in the letter. “I had long discussions about doing this with my attorneys. … I take responsibility for (Fletcher’s) death, but I didn’t mean to kill her.”

Randall — who said he has struggled with depression for most of his life — was previously declared incompetent to stand trial.

He was also interviewed twice by Dr. James Davidson in 2020 as part of an expert report. Davidson said Randall was suffering from a “schizophrenia-induced psychotic thought process at the time of (Fletcher’s) murder,” the order said.

“When I saw blood, I knew I did damage to her, but then I didn’t really know I did that much damage to her, enough to kill her. I wasn’t trying to kill her,” Randall told Davidson during one of the interviews. “It was an accident. I had no intention of doing that when she came to the door. I had no intention of premeditated murder at all.”

Idaho doesn’t allow an insanity defense. People found incompetent to stand trial — as Randall briefly was for two months — undergo treatment until their competency can be restored.

“You can be — excuse my language — loony as a bird and still be competent,” Hippler said in court last year after denying an attempted motion by Randall for a new mental competency evaluation.

Randall waited six months to file motion

In the weeks after pleading guilty, Randall reached out to several family members and friends about his decision. But it wasn’t until late June that Randall submitted a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

Hippler in the motion said that timing to ask to revoke a guilty plea is critical. He later added that Randall waited four months to notify his attorneys he wanted to withdraw his plea and six months to file the motion.

“This is far from timely,” Hippler wrote.

Hippler later wrote that Randall “experienced buyer’s remorse,” and said he second-guessed his decision because of the consequences Randall would face at his sentencing hearing.

Hippler also factored in the “substantial inconvenience” that trying Randall’s case would cause the court, though Hippler said he weighed it minimally.

“Guilty pleas are not to be treated so flippantly,” Hippler said.

Randall says attorneys pressured him to plead guilty

Reed Smith, the public defender assigned to Randall’s case, alleged in the initial motion to rescind the guilty plea that Randall’s prior private attorney, Joseph Miller, “pressured” him into pleading guilty. Randall was also receiving legal help from Jamie Moon, another private attorney.

In letters and phone calls from the Ada County Jail, Randall expressed his regret by pleading guilty but also acknowledged that his attorneys had his “best interest in mind,” the order said.

“My lawyer said I would have a better chance at a lighter sentence from the judge rather than getting convicted after a three-week trial,” Randall wrote in a letter to his son. “But now I deeply regret that decision to plead guilty.”

Randall, in a phone call with his son on Dec. 29, 2021, said that if he withdrew his guilty plea, he’d have to say he was “coerced” by his attorneys, and that they would no longer be able to represent him.

“He said he liked both Miller and Moon, noting they were competent and that they cared,” Hippler wrote in the order describing one of Randall’s phone calls from jail.

Hippler, in his order, said that the statements made by Randall “squarely undermine” his claim that he was coerced to plead guilty. He added that it was Randall’s “decision alone to plead guilty.”

“While he subsequently regretted that decision, his communications show his regret was not because he believed he was coerced, but because he feared he would not receive a more favorable outcome at sentencing than if he proceeded to trial,” Hippler wrote.

Hippler’s order also said Miller’s assertion that Randall would likely spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted was a “very real possibility.”

Randall is expected to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. March 3 at the Ada County Courthouse, online court records showed.