(KXNET)— Dallas Rice is asking the North Dakota Supreme Court to order his release from jail, reinstate his bond, and assign a different judge to his case. This comes after a district judge rejected his sentencing agreement and ordered him into custody.
In a new filing, Rice’s attorney argues North Central Judicial District Judge Gary Lee violated court rules by not giving Rice an immediate opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea after rejecting the agreement.
Rice is one of two people charged with stealing more than $180,000 from a Minot-area archery club.
Rice pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to one Class A felony count of conspiracy to commit theft of more than $50,000. Lee accepted the guilty plea but rejected the sentencing agreement between Rice and prosecutors. The proposed sentence was not disclosed in court and has not been made public.
Lee then exonerated Rice’s bond and ordered him to be taken into custody. Rice was booked into the Ward County Jail. As of Wednesday, he remains in custody.
The defense is asking the Supreme Court to issue a supervisory writ, an order directing the district court to take action. Rice’s attorney argues that Supreme Court intervention is necessary because Rice has no adequate alternative means of challenging his confinement.
According to the filing, defense counsel asked during the plea hearing whether Rice could withdraw his guilty plea. The filing says Lee responded that Rice and his attorney would have time to discuss the issue while Rice remained in custody until his next scheduled hearing.
Rice’s attorney argues that North Dakota’s criminal procedure rules required the judge to give Rice an opportunity to withdraw his plea after rejecting the binding agreement.
The filing also says Rice had complied with all bond conditions, had not been accused of new crimes, and that prosecutors did not request that he be taken into custody.
Rice’s attorney also argues the case should be reassigned to a judge outside the North Central Judicial District to avoid the appearance of bias or impropriety.
The filing cites an earlier letter from the district’s judges requesting that Rice’s case and his co-defendant’s case be assigned to an outside judge. According to the filing, the letter said reassignment would avoid the appearance of impropriety or bias.
The Supreme Court assigned Rice’s wife and co-defendant Nichole Rice’s case to an outside judge, but denied the reassignment request for Dallas’s case, according to the filing.
The defense argues the earlier request raises concerns about Lee continuing to preside over Dallas Rice’s case. Those claims are the defense’s arguments, not findings by the Supreme Court.
A status conference in Dallas Rice’s case is scheduled for Oct. 16.
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