Thursday, July 30, 2015
Man sentenced to almost 5 years in prison on 16 felonies
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Mark Lett certainly gave it the old college try Wednesday before he was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to almost five years in prison on 16 felonies.
First Lett, 48, tried to withdraw his guilty pleas. When that didn’t work, he asked to be released from jail to make personal arrangements then report, and then requested a bond while he appealed decisions to uphold his guilty plea and sentencing.
All three times, Judge Shirley Christian said no.
Lett pleaded guilty to the crimes, most of them fourth- degree or fifth-degree felonies, June 4, on charges of forgery, passing bad checks, identity theft and receiving stolen property.
He was indicted last year along with his girlfriend, Caprice Daye, 42, in a scheme in which prosecutors said they were stealing identities or identifications from other people and opening bank accounts and credit-card accounts.
Daye is slated to be sentenced today.
On July 13, a day before he was originally to be sentenced, Lett filed a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas and he made the same motion again July 21, along with a request for bond.
He argued before Judge Christian on Wednesday that he should be allowed to withdraw his pleas because he had no idea he was giving up his constitutional rights and his attorney, James Gentile, was ineffective.
Prosecutors opposed the motion and Judge Christian asked Lett what rights he felt he gave up.
Although Lett said he was giving up his rights under the fifth, sixth and 14th amendments to the Constitution, he could not tell Judge Christian what those amendments entail.
He also said he wanted to call witnesses to defend himself, but that Gentile had told him those witnesses would not be allowed to testify and that he was pressured into taking the plea.
Judge Christian ruled against him, saying she went over his rights and his charges before she accepted his plea and he said he understood them.
She also said he has a lengthy criminal record and therefore is no stranger to the plea process, and he also said at his plea that any problems with his lawyer were patched up.
Assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond asked for Judge Christian to uphold the recommended sentence in the plea agreement, which is 59 months.
Lett said he often wonders what he could have done to stop the criminal activity from taking place, which he blamed on Daye. “How can one man expect this would be the result of true love?” Lett asked the judge.
Lett said the crimes have taken their toll on him, also.
“Although I am deeply remorseful, I am also a victim,” Lett said.
Lett asked for probation, saying he is worried about his three children.
When the judge said she was following the plea agreement, he asked to be released from jail so he could put his affairs in order, then turn himself in. The judge said no.
“Four years and 11 months may be all I have,” Lett said.
Lett then asked if he could be released on bond while he appeals the judge’s decision on his request to revoke his plea, but the judge denied that as well, although she did say his lawyer for his appeal could ask the appeals court for a bond.
Lett was given 354 days credit for the time he’s served in the county jail awaiting the outcome of his case.