Update: Hearing postponed for man to back out of plea bargain in three deaths
A hearing for a man who avoided the death penalty with a plea bargain in three homicides -- and who now wants to back out of his guilty pleas -- was postponed to Nov. 7 during court proceedings Friday.
Lawyer Sean O'Connor, who represents Christopher Richard Lanteigne, requested the continuance after running into delays securing potential witnesses at West Valley Detention Center, in Rancho Cucamonga, O'Connor said during proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court.
O'Connor said he plans to subpoena witnesses at the jail for the hearing.
"That is the cause for the delay," O'Connor told Judge Brian McCarville.
If the judge denies Lanteigne's motion to withdraw from the plea bargain, then he likely will be sentenced immediately in the three deaths, according to Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope
"(O'Connor) assures me there won't be any further continuances," Cope said in court.
Lanteigne's lawyer announced his client's intentions in March, shortly before Lanteigne and co-defendant Camille Marie Vredenburg were to be sentenced.
The pair and a third man, Christopher Weaver, pleaded guilty as part of a package deal for their roles in a 2004 series of crimes extending from San Bernardino to the San Gorgonio Pass that left three men dead.
If McCarville allows Lanteigne to withdraw his guilty plea, the three defendants could go to trial on the charges where Lanteigne and Weaver would face the death penalty if convicted on the charges, according to prosecutors.
Lanteigne and Weaver pleaded guilty to three counts of murder on March 5 in the deaths of 42-year-old Scott Fisher of San Bernardino, Clayton McCobb, 44, of Ramona and Kareem Mohammed Radwan, 26, of Loma Linda. Vredenburg pleaded guilty the same day to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for her role in two of the deaths.
Weaver asked to be sentenced right away and was sent to state prison
Under the plea bargain, Lanteigne is facing a sentence of life in prison without parole. Vredenburg would get a six-year sentence, and she has already served about four years.
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