An Ohio man who angered a judge Wednesday by pleading not guilty to killing a man while drunk driving despite his moving YouTube confession has a new judge now and plans to plead guilty, ABC News reports.
Lawyers for Matthew Cordle, 22, said they entered the not-guilty plea so a new judge could be randomly assigned, according to CBS News. Under Ohio law, a guilty plea makes it hard to get a new judge, according to ABC.
Cordle's lawyers said their client is "riddled with guilt" for causing the wrong-way collision and plans to plead guilty on Sept. 18, CBS reported.
Judge Julie Lynch, the first judge in the case, told ABC he'd committed to a guilty plea on Wednesday. Lynch told ABC she thinks his lawyers were trying to game the system and get a new judge because she said she didn't know how she'd sentence him. He faces 8 years in prison.
"Once you commit to pleading guilty, there are only one a few questions left: What's going to be the sentence? And who determines that? The judge — and which judge you get — can make a big difference," ABC chief legal affairs correspondent Dan Abrams said.
Cordle's video, called "I killed a man," has been viewed 2 million times on YouTube. It was made as a promo video for a startup called "Because I Said I Would," which bills itself as "a social movement dedicated to bettering humanity through the power of a promise."
Join the conversation about this story »
     |