LIBERAL ? A man who pleaded guilty to killing his two young sons in a trailer fire should be allowed to withdraw his plea, his attorneys said in a court hearing Tuesday.

Robert Fox’s attorneys argued that proper procedure wasn’t followed when Fox pleaded guilty last month to two counts of reckless second-degree murder in the March 2004 deaths. They said Fox was sleep-deprived and felt pressured when he agreed to the plea bargain.

But prosecutor Steven Maxwell, of the Kansas attorney general’s office, argued that correct procedure was followed and that it was Fox’s decision to agree to a plea deal.

“Just because he changes his mind does not mean he can withdraw his plea,” Maxwell said.

Seward County District Judge Tom Smith plans to rule on the motion by early next week.

Fox originally faced capital murder charges in the deaths of 6-year-old Chance Fox and 4-year-old Rowdy Fox. The boys lived with their mother in Hooker, Okla., and were visiting their father in southwest Kansas when they died after his camper trailer caught fire as they slept inside.

Fox pleaded guilty July 26 to reckless second-degree murder, sparing him a possible death sentence. Fox maintained Tuesday that he is innocent in his sons’ deaths.

Shortly after the plea deal, Fox filed a motion to withdraw the plea, and two new attorneys – Val Wachtel and Roger Falk, both of Wichita – were appointed to represent him.

He was originally scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. But in a hearing on his motion, Fox complained that he felt pressured by his original attorneys to take the deal.

When those attorneys, Ron Evans and Jeffrey Wicks, “came to me, I was told I had to take this plea now,” Fox said. Prosecutors had given Fox a limited time to consider the deal.

Falk also said that Smith didn’t tell Fox the constitutional rights he was waiving by agreeing to the plea deal, and that the agreement didn’t specify the facts supporting a reckless second-degree murder conviction, as it should have.

Maxwell countered that Smith followed legal procedures and there is no evidence that Fox was coerced or intimidated into making his decision.

Evans and Wicks had testified that they discussed the possibility of a plea deal numerous times with Fox and that he seemed to understand the issues involved. They also said that whenever talk of a plea deal arose, Fox was adamant that he would not agree to any charge that suggested he intentionally killed the boys.

“The defendant knew what he was doing,” Maxwell said. “(Smith) asked him the right questions. He pled guilty.”