The Fifth District Appellate Court has found no merit in a Madison County convicted murderer's petition to withdraw a "so-called" guilty plea.
On April 1, the court turned down the appeal brought by Demond Haynes, who in 2007 was found guilty of first degree murder in the beating death of a disabled man, Alan Curtis.
"Where the defendant was found guilty after a bench trial at which the State presented its entire case by stipulation, and the defendant preserved a defense and did not stipulate that the evidence was sufficient to convict, the circuit court did not err in dismissing the defendant’s motion to withdraw his so-called guilty plea, and since any argument to the contrary would lack merit, the judgment of the court is affirmed," wrote Justice John Barberis.
According to the ruling, Haynes' appointed appellate attorney - the Office of the State Appellate Defender (OSAD) - had concluded that the appeal lacked merit and had moved to withdraw its representation. The Fifth District also granted OSAD's withdrawal from the case.
"This appeal has no merit because Haynes filed a motion to withdraw guilty plea in a case in which he did not, as a matter of fact and law, plead guilty," Barberis wrote.
The ruling indicates that Curtis was beaten to death in 2006 at his Granite City apartment.
News reports indicate that Curtis was beaten in the head and chest with a baseball bat, and that Haynes and a 16-year-old cohort stomped on his head. Haynes and the 16-year-old allegedly were searching for someone else about a drug deal when Curtis was killed.
Haynes was found guilty in a stipulated Madison County bench trial in 2007, and was sentenced to 42 years in prison. His conviction was affirmed by the appellate court in 2009.
"In 2024, Haynes filed a pro se motion to withdraw his (so-called) plea of guilty," the ruling states.
Madison County Circuit Judge Kyle Napp dismissed the motion, on the grounds that it was untimely.