photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

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

A Shawnee County Judge denied Rontarus Washington’s request to withdraw his guilty plea on Tuesday in connection with an armed robbery at a gas station and granted him probation.

Washington, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery and one count of attempted robbery on Oct. 31, 2023, as part of a plea agreement, as the Journal-World reported. He was originally facing one felony count each of aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, and interference with law enforcement, and one misdemeanor count of attempted battery on a law enforcement agent.

The robbery and battery charges are in connection with an incident on Aug. 24, at Max’s Oakmart, a convenience store at 2518 NE Seward Ave, in Topeka, where he is alleged to have stolen $702 after striking the cashier in the head with a pellet gun, but police saw him flee the store and were able to capture him, as the Journal-World reported.

He attempted to withdraw the plea in December 2023 and claimed that his attorney, Gary Conwell, had provided him ineffective counsel and misled Washington into taking the plea, telling Washington that it was the only way to get out of jail and home to his son.

Judge Maban Wright denied the request and sentenced Washington on Tuesday to two years in prison before she suspended that sentence to two years of probation, in accordance with the Kansas sentencing guidelines. Washington had no criminal history that affected his sentence, according to court records.

Washington told the Journal-World after a hearing in December that his experience being incarcerated in Douglas County for over five years before a murder charge against him was dismissed factored into the decision to take the plea.

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 is justice denied.” The case was dismissed without prejudice on Dec. 27, 2021, meaning it could be brought again. Mosso’s murder remains unsolved.

Washington was recently named as a witness in connection with the death of 17-year-old Isaiah Neal who was shot multiple times in the early hours of June 13 at 2406 Alabama St. Washington’s name appears on the charging documents for Cir Allen Keith Glover, 18, of Lawrence, who is charged with one count of second-degree intentional murder. What Washington’s connection to the case is is still unknown but Washington’s residence is listed near where the shooting occurred.

Washington was arrested about six hours after the shooting at the same location after allegedly engaging in a fight with another man. He has since been charged in Municipal Court with one misdemeanor count each of battery and interference with law enforcement. He is next scheduled to appear in court on July 3.