Judge: Lorain attorney coerced men into pleading guilty to rape

ELYRIA — Two men accused of rape and kidnapping will be allowed to withdraw their guilty pleas after a Lorain County Common Pleas Court judge ruled Tuesday that their attorney violated his professional responsibilities to them. Judge Chris Cook wrote in two judgment entries Tuesday that he granted co-defendants Robert Woods' and Thomas Trent Jr.'s requests because attorney Michael Duff "coerced" them into taking a plea deal, in addition to Cook's own admission that he failed to properly advise them of their Tier 3 sex offender registration requirements. Woods and Trent are accused of offering to help a woman fix a flat tire near Midway Mall, then persuading her to go to a garage when they did not have the correct car repair tools and allegedly raping her there, according to statements former Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will made to the Chronicle-Telegram in 2019. Woods and Trent denied guilt under oath in their plea withdrawal hearing Jan. 13. Cook wrote that Duff demanded an additional $15,000 fee from both co-defendants four days before the scheduled start date of a jury trial last September and appeared unprepared for the trial that both Woods and Trent sought. Woods and Trent both testified they were unable to come up with the money and were led to believe Duff would withdraw from their case if they did not accept a plea bargain last Sept. 30. The agreement stated that their rape and kidnapping counts would merge and they would be sentenced only on the rape count. They said they felt pressured to accept the deal, despite signing a plea sheet stating that they were not pressured into pleading guilty and understood they would have to register as Tier 3 sex offenders. Cook admitted in the judgment entries that he did not properly discuss the sex offender classification and registration requirements with the defendants when they pleaded, even though they discussed it with Duff, heard the prosecutor mention it on the record, heard Cook address a $100 registration fee and signed plea sheets acknowledging they understood. The argument that Cook failed to properly advise Woods and Trent of their classification and registration requirements at the time of their pleas "is well-taken" and supports their efforts to withdraw, Cook wrote. But the argument that Cook identified as "most compelling" for granting the plea withdrawal was the $15,000 fee. "Given the facts of this case and the extortive demand for an additional $15,000.00 four days prior to trial, this Court can reach only one conclusion — and that conclusion is that Woods' guilty plea was coerced and involuntary because he believed he had no choice but to plea," Cook wrote in Woods' judgement entry. A similar statement is written in Trent's entry. Duff declined to comment on the matter Tuesday evening. He testified in the Jan. 13 hearing that he would have gone to trial on the $3,500 Woods and Trent had already paid even if they had not come up with the $15,000 fee. Not only did Duff's actions violate his professional responsibilities to his clients, Cook wrote, but he added they also may have violated the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers. He wrote that "the cascading effect of Attorney Duff's conduct has placed the Court, the State, and most unfortunately, the complaining witness in the untenable position of having to 'start from scratch.'" The co-defendants had been trying to take back their guilty pleas for more than a month. On Dec. 18, the morning the men were to be sentenced, Trent — through attorney Matthew Bobrowski, who works for Duff — made an oral motion to withdraw his guilty plea because he learned that Woods had retained a new lawyer and filed a written motion to withdraw his own plea. Cook denied Trent's oral motion at that time and sentenced him to seven years in prison. But after seeing the reasoning in the motion to withdraw Woods' guilty plea, filed by his new lawyer R.J. Budway, Cook appointed attorney Kreig Brusnahan to represent Trent. Brusnahan filed a formal motion to withdraw Trent's guilty plea on Jan. 11, and hearings were held for both men's motions on Jan. 13. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.