Johnson v. State

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

Appellant Rainier Johnson pled guilty while he was on trial for murder. He changed lawyers before sentencing and asked to withdraw his plea. The trial court refused to let him do so and proceeded to impose sentence.

Besides challenging these decisions, Johnson also seeks to claim that his first lawyer provided ineffective representation, notwithstanding the rule that one who pleads guilty cannot seek to set aside the plea on direct appeal. As with other kinds of contentions concerning pleas, we hold Johnson’s claim should be heard through post-conviction relief. In the…