Garrido opts out of guilty plea for aggravated murder
by Krystal Paco
Guam - Keith Jermaine Garrido was anticipated to plead guilty to all his pending cases today, but it appears he's changed his mind.
Garrido is accused of murdering Nancy Mafnas after he burglarized her home. While en route to a court hearing, he reportedly escaped from a DepCor vehicle and assaulted another woman in her home. Garrido is also accused in a 2013 burglary case.
His attorney Stephen Hattori stated today that Garrido wished to only plead guilty to some of the charges, but not all. Because there was no plea deal on the table, the court would not allow this. Hattori said, "He indicated to me that he's willing to plead to all the charges but the first charge." Sukola said, "Then we're going to go to trial for the first charge?" Hatorri said, "If that's what the court desires." Sukola said, "That's not what I desire. I want to know from him he's going to plead to murder, aggravated assault, burglary, and theft of a motor vehicle but he doesn't want to plead to the first charge of aggravated murder. Is that what I'm hearing?"
The judge said, "No we're going to set this matter for trial."
As a result, Garrido will head to trial on both matters. His next court appearance is a continued pre-trial conference scheduled for January 26.
