McAllister, attorney dispute events leading to plea deal

[S]T. ALBANS – Former state Sen. Norm McAllister said he pleaded no contest to sex-related charges after his attorneys had him in tears, telling him he was “stupid” and “retarded” for not listening to their advice to accept the deal offered by prosecutors.

However, one of the two lawyers who represented McAllister in the negotiations and during the hearing last month where the former Franklin County lawmaker entered his pleas, said the attorneys never used such language.

The different versions of events were on display Friday in Superior Court in St. Albans when McAllister and his former attorney Brooks McArthur testified about events leading up the plea deal McAllister entered into on Jan. 10, and now wants to back out from accepting.

The conflicting testimony ran late into the afternoon and a judge agreed to continue the matter to another day before deciding whether McAllister can withdraw his earlier pleas to charges that could send him to jail for up to seven years. If the deal is nixed, the charges that McAllister would face could result in a lifetime prison term.

The plea deal McAllister entered last month called for the judge to hand down the actual sentence at a later date. Attorneys in the case would be allowed to argue for any sentence within the statutory parameters.

McAllister, 65, testified Friday he wanted more time to consider the plea deal he accepted last month, but his attorneys said it was a take-it, or leave-it offer, and he had to decide right away as the hour was late following a full day of jury selection in his case.

“Then they started in on me, telling me how stupid I was to not be listening to them, only a retarded person would not be listening,” McAllister said on the witness stand Friday. “They actually had me in tears at this point and I don’t think I’m that soft a person.”

Earlier, he testified, his attorneys told him how laws in Vermont treat women versus men.

“What they told me was, ‘You’ve got to remember this is a woman’s state and women have way more rights more than men and you are up against something that’s almost insurmountable from the start.’”

Later Friday, McArthur was called to the stand and flatly denied that he or David WIlliams, another member of McAllister’s defense team at the time of the plea deal, made such statements regarding women and Vermont’s rights and laws.

“Absolutely not,” McArthur replied to a question from Franklin County Deputy State’s Attorney John Lavoie about whether they said that to McAllister.

McArthur also denied that they said McAllister would be “stupid” or “retarded” for not listening to the advice of his lawyers regarding the plea deal.

“It was our opinion,” McArthur added, “if the evidence was admitted and believed by the jury that he would be convicted of the charges that were currently pending against him.”

The defense attorney added that McAllister appeared to be upset and nervous about the offer by prosecutors, but asked appropriate questions, such as the maximum jail time he could serve and whether he would be on sex offender registry, and, if so, how long.

Prosecutors say McAllister sexually assaulted a woman who lived in a trailer on his farm property, describing it as a sex-for-rent scheme. Also, he allegedly solicited sex from another women in exchange for rent owed by her son. The second woman died of natural causes shortly after McAllister’s arrest in 2015.

McAllister pleaded no contest Jan. 10 to a reduced charge of lewd and lascivious conduct as well as two counts of prohibited acts. Pleading no contest is not an admission of guilt. Rather, it is an acknowledgment the state may have sufficient evidence to prove its case.

McAllister’s first sexual assault trial ended in June when the state dropped its charges after the accuser perjured herself on a minor detail. McAllister remains free on conditions. He also faces a civil suit from his accuser in the pending criminal case.

The charges against McAllister brought an abrupt end to the Republican lawmaker’s political career.

He was arrested outside the Statehouse in 2015 and then suspended from the state Senate. A bid to return to Montpelier was derailed when he lost a re-election bid last year in the August primary.

Lavoie, one of the prosecutor in pending case, contends McAllister shouldn’t be allowed to withdraw his pleas. He argues the judge extensively quizzed McAllister at that time on the terms of the plea deal and the rights he would be giving up by accepting it.

Bob Katims, the Burlington attorney now representing McAllister, said his client was under duress at the time he entered his no contest pleas and the consequences were not fully spelled out to him.

McAllister testified Friday he was not aware at the time he entered his pleas that if he received a jail sentence, he would have to serve the maximum amount of that term unless he made admissions during sex offender treatment.

McAllister said he has maintained his innocent since the start of the case and never asked his attorneys to seek plea offers from the prosecutors.

“They asked me if they could,” McAllister said of his attorneys. “I said, ‘Short of having them drop all charges I was not interested, but if you can get that fine.’ If they’re going to drop all the charges, I would take it.”

“So why did you accept that offer?” Lavoie asked McAllister.

“Because for over 45 minutes my two lawyers had sat there and browbeat me to the point where I was total mess,” McAllister testified. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“(The judge) asked you multiple times, multiple times, if you were doing this voluntarily, do you recall that,” Lavoie later asked.

“Yes,” McAllister replied.

“He asked you if you understood the nature of the charges, correct,” the prosecutor asked.

“It was pretty much of a blur,” McAllister responded.

McAllister testified that driving home to his farm in Highgate Center after entering in the plea agreement he had second thoughts. He said once home he talked to his son about the matter, and his son then sent McArthur a text message.

McArthur testified Friday that after the court hearing where McAllister entered his pleas he went back in his office in Burlington. He then received that text message from McAllister’s son.

“You son of a bitch,” the text message read, McArthur testified.

McAllister and his son spoke to McArthur by phone later that night.

McAllister testified Friday he told McArthur he wanted to withdraw from the plea deal, but McArthur said he couldn’t do it at night so he advised him to sleep on it.

The next day, they spoke again and McAllister said his mind hadn’t changed so he began the process to seek a new attorney and withdraw his pleas.

McArthur testified Friday that he told McAllister he didn’t think withdrawing the pleas would be in his best interest, adding that he told the former lawmaker he could not continue to represent him if that’s what he wanted to do.

McArthur also disputed McAllister’s claim that he wasn’t told about the sex offender treatment program and any admissions he may be asked to make.

Williams spoke to McAllister “fairly extensively” about sex offender treatment program, McArthur testified, and the need for an admission to successfully complete the program and be eligible for release prior to any maximum prison term handed down by a judge.

McAllister was adamant Friday he wanted his case decided by a jury of his peers.

“Do you want to withdraw your plea?” Katims asked his client.

“I absolutely want to withdraw my plea,” McAllister replied from the witness stand.

“Do you want a trial in this matter?” Katims inquired.

“I do,” McAllister responded.