An Athens man recently entered a guilty plea in Clarke County Superior Court to three felonies and three misdemeanors stemming from the September 2023 burglary of an Athens home.
The plea was negotiated between District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez and Western Circuit Assistant District Attorney Matthew Lester.
But the decision ultimately rested with Superior Court Judge Lisa Lott.
Ultimately, on June 13, Lott rejected the plea deal for seven years in prison. Instead, she handed the defendant, Rashard Timothy Blackshear, a 20-year prison sentence. And she granted a motion to place him on repeat offender status because she determined he was a repeat offender.
The suspect had the right to get rid of his sentence because it did not meet the agreement he had expected.
And he did.
Blackshear now faces a possible jury trial on the pending charges.
Blackshear, a 35-year-old man who has been in and out of prisons for most of his 35 years, has a criminal history that includes more than a dozen felony convictions, ranging from numerous theft cases, illegal drugs and burglaries. , with a proliferation of sex crimes, according to court documents.
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Those criminal convictions occurred in Clarke, Oconee and Tattnal counties, the repeat offender data shows.
At the beginning of the hearing, Lott was told by Gonzalez that there would be disagreement over how the court should hear the case. She noted that the victims were against the proposed sentence and that their attorney Kevin Epps was disrespectful to the people in her office.
The prosecutor urged the judge to maintain decorum in the courtroom, but Lott declined to comment on the difficulties between the two sides.
Blackshear came to the hearing already serving seven years in prison after Lott revoked his probation last December when he admitted to probation violations, including his arrest for loitering and prowling on the University of Georgia campus.
The proposed settlement would have run concurrently with the seven years he is now serving.
Epps said he represented nine victims, all University of Georgia students, who were at the Waddell Street home when it was broken into late at night in 2023. A student told police she woke up to find Blackshear standing next to her bed and masturbating. Epps also complained that Blackshear called this particular victim from jail, something that Blackshear’s attorney said was an attempt to apologize to her.
In arguing against the plea deal, Epps pointed to a 2014 burglary conviction against Blackshear in which he entered an 11-year-old girl’s room and ripped off her covers. That same year, he was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of distributing obscene material.
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In support of Blackshear’s suspended sentence, Lester described the difficult early life of his client, who was abused and inherited a mental illness. As a youngster, he walked in and out of youth detention centers. Lester said Blackshear has a history of substance abuse, from methamphetamine to fentanyl and alcohol.
Lester claimed that the victims in this recent case will be sophomores at UGA this fall and they do not want him released from prison until they graduate.
Lott, who said she knew Blackshear, said in imposing a 20-year prison sentence she took into account his significant criminal record of 16 crimes.
In addition, she ordered that he have no contact with the victims and dismissed him from the UGA campus and the areas in Athens where the most recent crimes occurred.
After she imposed the sentence, Lott told Blackshear he has the legal right to withdraw his plea because he pleaded under a negotiated deal that she did not accept.
Epps told the court he had considered a violation of the Marsey Act against the district attorney’s office because he felt the victim’s rights had been violated. Epps has filed such complaints against Gonzalez in the past.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: An Athens man fights prison sentence imposed after plea deal was rejected
