Hearing set for teen seeking plea changes in 2018 killing
A December hearing has been set for a teenager seeking to withdraw his guilty pleas in a murder case that left a Miami Twp. hotel worker fatally shot.
Larry Malcolm Sain, 18, is set to return Dec. 12 in his bid to have guilty pleas revoked in the Sept. 13, 2018 of Jayren Graham, 18, of Miami Twp., court records show.
Sain was in court Wednesday as the hearing date was set following the court appointment of a new lawyer. Lucas Wilder was designated to take the place of Patrick Mulligan, who withdrew earlier this month. Those moves came after Sain abruptly told a judge he wanted to rescind his pleas and fire Mulligan.
Sain’s announcement came moments before Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara Gorman was set to sentence him to 18 years to life in prison for murder and tampering with evidence, a term court officials said had been agreed upon.
Sain was 17 at the time of the shooting and is being tried as an adult. He told Gorman he felt pressured into a plea deal with prosecutors, and indicated his mother was an influence in the guilty pleas.
The plea deal had been announced last month just days before Sain’s trial was set to start.
Sain had earlier pleaded not guilty to four murder counts, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of felonious assault, tampering with evidence, carrying a concealed weapon and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.
Sain killed Graham outside the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton off Ohio 741 in a late-night drug deal gone bad, authorities said.
His case was transferred to adult court earlier this year after a hearing in Montgomery County Juvenile Court Judge Anthony Capizzi’s courtroom.
Former high school classmates testified in juvenile court Sain pulled a gun on Graham before the victim was shot in a struggle in the hotel’s parking lot with a weapon police have not found.
The female former West Carrollton High School seniors said they were with the defendant and Graham, who they said died after a late-night drug deal gone bad outside the DoubleTree.
Sain’s juvenile record dates back about three years and involves more than 90 charges, court records show.
In previous cases, the teen was found delinquent on more than half of those charges. They range from probation violations and drug possession to theft, receiving stolen property, criminal damaging, endangering, aggravated menacing and assault, court records show.