photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Rontarus Washington Jr. is pictured outside of a courtroom on Dec. 27, 2023, in Shawnee County District Court.

When Rontarus Washington Jr. pleaded guilty to felony battery and attempted robbery charges in Shawnee County in October, he says his mind was on what happened to him in the Douglas County court system years ago — how he spent more than five years in jail accused of murder in a case that was ultimately dropped.

He told the Journal-World that he thought Douglas County’s court system “failed me,” and that part of why he pleaded guilty in the new case was that he didn’t want something similar to happen to him in Shawnee County if he went to trial.

But now, he’s changed his mind.

In Shawnee County District Court on Wednesday — the day he was set to be sentenced — Washington, 27, of Topeka, asked the court if he could withdraw his plea and get a new attorney.

As the Journal-World has reported, Washington pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery and one count of attempted robbery on Oct. 31 as part of a plea agreement. He’s accused of stealing $702 from Max’s Oakmart, a convenience store at 2518 NE Seward Ave. in Topeka, on Aug. 24 after striking the cashier in the head with a pellet gun.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Washington’s attorney Gary Conwell said that Washington not only wanted to withdraw his plea, but that Washington also had asked Conwell to withdraw so that Washington could hire another attorney. Judge Maban Wright asked Washington if that was his intention; Washington replied, “yes, ma’am.”

Wright said that she would appoint Washington a new attorney during Thursday’s criminal docket after the court had had time to identify one, and that the new attorney would advise Washington on the next steps in his case.

Shawnee County Deputy District Attorney Shannon Szambecki said she did not object to Conwell withdrawing, and that she believed that Conwell had advised Washington of what the consequences of changing his plea could be.

Both of the counts included in Washington’s plea agreement were low-level person felonies, and the state had recommended two years in prison, which would have then been suspended to two years of probation if Kansas sentencing guidelines were followed. Washington’s original charges, meanwhile, included one felony count each of aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and interference with law enforcement and one misdemeanor count of attempted battery on a law enforcement agent. The original felony charges were also at a higher level of severity, meaning Washington wouldn’t be eligible for probation if he were convicted of them.

But Washington told the Journal-World Wednesday that changing his plea would be worth it if he had a chance to go to trial and possibly avoid having any felonies on his record. According to the plea agreement, Washington had no prior criminal history that could have affected his sentence in the robbery case. But if he took the plea deal, the person-felony charges would have increased Washington’s criminal history score substantially, and any future felony charges Washington might face would then result in mandatory prison time if he were convicted.

Washington also told the Journal-World that he believed Conwell had been ineffective. Specifically, Washington claimed that he only received the evidence the state had against him after he entered the plea agreement.

In addition, Washington told the Journal-World a bit about why he originally wanted to plead guilty — and that it had to do with the way his previous case unfolded in Douglas County.

As the Journal-World has reported, in January 2015 Washington was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated burglary in the death of his neighbor, Justina Altamirano Mosso, 19, who was found Nov. 9, 2014, at her Lawrence apartment after having been repeatedly bludgeoned and stabbed. Washington was eventually tried by then-District Attorney Charles Branson’s office in 2019, and the jury could not reach a verdict. He was in jail for more than five years, which generated protests in Lawrence and a successful effort to get his $750,000 bond reduced so that he could get out of jail with the help of community members who believed he was wrongly accused based, in part, on his race.

The current district attorney, Suzanne Valdez, dropped the first-degree murder case against him on Dec. 22, 2021, saying she had elected to “cease prosecution” and that “justice delayed was justice denied.” The case was dismissed without prejudice on Dec. 27, 2021, meaning it could be brought again.

Washington said Wednesday that he thought the Douglas County court system “failed me,” and that affected his decision on whether to take the plea agreement in Shawnee County. He could only afford to get out of the Shawnee County Jail on bond after he took the plea deal and his bond amount was reduced tenfold — from more than $150,000 to $15,000. He said the only reason he was able to get out of jail in his Douglas County case was that the community rallied behind him and raised money for his bond, and he was afraid that if he didn’t take the plea deal in the robbery case, he’d have a similar situation where he was sitting in jail for an extended period of time, waiting for his case to move forward and unable to make bond.

Washington said the mother of his 10-year-old son died recently, and he needed to be with him. He said his son has had serious mental health issues since his mother’s death.

A Johnson County attorney, LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, attended the hearing with Washington. Lassiter Saunders runs a legal aid nonprofit, My Better America, and said that she was “an interested party” who was working with Washington on both his criminal case in Shawnee County and a recently dismissed civil suit that Washington filed in Douglas County alleging wrongful incarceration. Washington and Lassiter Saunders declined to comment on the status of the civil suit.

Lassiter Saunders said that what happened to Washington in Shawnee County occurs too often — that African American men are held with high bond amounts and feel pressured into taking plea agreements just to get out of jail. She said that Washington deserved his day in court, and that his decision to enter a plea should not have been made out of fear of being incarcerated indefinitely.