Motion denied

CLOVIS - The Clovis man sentenced in March to nearly 60 years in prison was denied a motion Friday to withdraw his guilty plea.

Aaron Morrisette, 32, pleaded guilty March 21 to four felony charges pertaining to a stabbing, kidnapping, robbery and police standoff in June 2016. He was sentenced to 59 and a half years in prison, based on multiple eight-year sentence enhancements from three prior felony convictions.

Morrisette's defense attorney, Tom Harden, told the court on behalf of Morrisette that he was sorry and had found God.

Morrisette himself declined to speak during the sentencing hearing.

On March 29, Morrisette filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he had been told that he would not get more than 20 years in a plea deal.

Harden denied that claim in court Friday morning, and District Attorney Andrea Reeb pointed to court records confirming Morrisette was made aware of the upper limit of his sentence from the guilty plea.

Morrisette also claimed Friday that he was under the influence of methamphetamines and hadn't slept for three days at the time of his plea entry, allowing him to be "railroaded" by the court.

District Judge Matt Chandler replied that Morrisette had claimed at the time to be of sound judgment and under no coercion, part of the standard questions asked of all defendants when submitting a plea.

"(Defendants) have a right to file (a motion to withdraw), but when we most see these happen is when they don't like the sentence they receive when they take the plea. It is a pretty common thing to see," said Reeb. "They just don't believe it's going to happen. If you let everybody withdraw their pleas after they go through that, then nothing will ever get done."

Following Chandler's denial of the motion to withdraw, Morrisette's only remaining action is to file a habeas motion asserting wrongful incarceration on the basis of ineffective counsel, said Reeb.

"He's just a difficult defendant," she added. "We'll just plug away if he files something else."