A Scott County public defender is being rapped by an appellate court for hustling a man through the criminal justice system with no investigation, no hearings, no explanation of the consequences and lying to a judge about his work on the case.
In an opinion released late last week, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals is giving rare approval for Joshua Tyrell Cross to withdraw a guilty plea he made in rape charge of which he said he was innocent.
Cross was charged in a July 2012 incident in Oneida in which a woman said she woke up naked and injured in her bed and recalled an image of a man on top of her sometime during her sleep, according to the opinion. She did not immediately report it and no DNA analysis was conducted. Other witnesses put Cross in her house earlier.
Cross was charged with aggravated rape, and 8th Judicial District Assistant Public Defender Dale Potter was assigned the case. According to the opinion, Potter did not interview any witnesses or the victim. He did not ask for a preliminary hearing or a bond hearing. He urged Cross to take a plea deal on an attempted rape charge.
Potter skipped a grand jury review, and Cross was never even arraigned, a basic guaranteed right, according to the opinion. He entered his plea in September 2012 — two months after his arrest.
As part of the plea deal, Cross was sentenced to three years and ordered to register as a sex offender for life. A week later, Cross sought to withdraw his plea. Scott County Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton held a hearing.
Potter admitted he told Cross not to worry about a lifetime on the sex offender registry, the opinion stated.
“He said (he told Cross) that ‘you never know what the law will be when he gets ready to come off probation or later down the road.’ Counsel said he did not review with the defendant the community supervision for life form,” the court wrote.
The opinion also noted Potter lied when Judge Sexton asked him if he had interviewed witnesses and otherwise prepared the case for trial.
“Counsel agreed that the trial court asked him … whether he had interviewed the witnesses and would be ready for trial if the defendant chose to plead not guilty,” the opinion stated. “Counsel said he informed the trial court he had done so.”
Because of Potter’s failings, the appellate court is sending Cross’ case back to court and a new beginning.
“(Cross’s) plea was entered based upon several misunderstandings, which were attributable to (Potter’s) advice,” Appellate Judge Robert H. Wedemeyer wrote. ..Source.. by Jamie Satterfield
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