Killer's bid to back out of plea rejected

Robert Allen Lake said he thought he was agreeing to a possible prison sentence of 110 months, not 110 years, when he admitted to the 2010 bludgeoning death of a Kalispell man.

A Flathead District Court judge didn’t buy it.

Judge Stewart Stadler has denied Lake’s request to withdraw his guilty plea to deliberate homicide.

Stadler wrote in his ruling that Lake’s claims that he misunderstood a plea agreement and that his attorney was ineffective were not supported by the court record.

“He testified that he understood the agreement and its consequences, that he had sufficient time to consult with his attorney and was satisfied with his representation, and that he had received no other promises in exchange for his plea other than those set forth in the plea agreement,” Stadler wrote in his rationale for the decision.

Lake, 22, is scheduled to be sentenced for the murder today in District Court.

Lake signed a plea agreement with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office on Feb. 14. The deal dictated that prosecutors would dismiss two felony robbery charges in exchange for Lake’s guilty pleas to deliberate homicide and tampering with physical evidence.

The agreement provided that Lake’s defense attorney and prosecutors would recommend a net sentence of 110 years in Montana State Prison.

On March 4, Lake asked to withdraw his guilty plea.

During a March 16 hearing, he claimed that he misunderstood the agreement and that his state-appointed attorney, Christopher Abbott, had been ineffective by advising him against going to trial to argue for a lesser offense of mitigated homicide.

Stadler noted in his ruling that Lake had initialed and signed the plea agreement and wrote that Lake’s claim that he thought he was being sentenced to 110 months, not 110 years, “is not credible.”

“It is clear from the written plea agreement and [Lake’s] testimony in support of his plea that he was fully aware of the consequences and benefits of his guilty plea and his plea agreement with the state,” Stadler wrote.

Abbott’s testimony at a March 24 hearing on Lake’s request to withdraw his plea contradicted Lake’s claims.

Abbott said he had reviewed the potential penalties with Lake on many occasions and it was “always in the context of years not months” and that “the tenor of the conversations we had led me to believe that he did understand these penalties.”

As for Lake’s claims of ineffective counsel, Abbott said he advised Lake against pursuing a lesser charge of mitigated homicide based on his own understanding of the evidence.

“In light of the evidence the jury would not find him guilty of mitigated and it would most likely find him guilty of deliberate homicide,” Abbott said.

Lake has been held in the Flathead County Detention Center since his arrest on April 18, 2010.

Lake admitted beating 49-year-old Wesley Collins to death with a hammer on April 12 and claimed he was assisted by Jeffery Nixon. Prosecutors allege the men murdered Collins to steal his medical marijuana, money and other belongings.

Nixon has maintained his innocence and is scheduled to go to trial in July on charges of deliberate homicide, burglary, robbery and tampering with physical evidence.

Lake’s former girlfriend, Karrolyn Robinson, was sentenced to eight years in Montana Women’s Prison in December for tampering with physical evidence. She orchestrated the deletion of text messages off of two phones deemed as evidence in the case.

Joshua Fritz pleaded no contest in October to felony tampering with evidence and received a five-year suspended sentence but not prison time.

Cody Naldrett has pleaded no contest to the same charge but has not been sentenced. He said during a change-of-plea hearing that he helped Lake hide Collins’ body in a wooded area off of Patrick Creek Road.

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com.