Convicted murderer in 2010 Topeka West High School shootings not allowed to take back guilty pleas

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday rejected a man’s effort to withdraw guilty pleas in a 2010 homicide on the campus of Topeka West High School.

Coty Ryland Newman, 30, argued he would not have pleaded if he had known he could never take them back, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Newman was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of 20 -year-old Matthew Mitchell and attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of  17-year-old Treshawn Wilson.

Then-Shawnee County District Judge Evelyn Wilson denied Newman’s motion to withdraw his pleas in 2014, and he appealed to the state Supreme Court.   Wilson recently joined the Kansas Supreme Court but was not on the court when it upheld her 2014 decision in Newman’s case, said Doug Weller, spokesman for the Kansas Judicial Branch.

The high court concluded Wilson did not abuse her discretion when she ruled the plea agreement was not unfair and Newman’s trial counsel was not ineffective, according to an opinion written by Justice Eric Rosen.

The Supreme Court did overturn Wilson’s 2014 order that Newman face lifetime post-release supervision when he leaves prison.

Another man and two women were convicted and sentenced for crimes related to the shootings.

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