Buchheit receives 18-year prison sentence on rape charge

A Netawaka resident convicted in February on a rape charge in­volving a minor will spend the next 17 years in prison after his motion to withdraw a plea that led to the conviction was denied in Jackson County District Court.

Scott Buchheit, 37, was sen­tenced to a total of 226 months, or 18 years and 10 months, in prison — the maximum sentence on the charge of rape, a Level 1 felony — during a two-hour sentencing hearing on Friday that included ac­tion on Buchheit’s motion to with­draw his February plea.

With credit for time already served at the Jackson County De­tention Center, the sentence will be 17 years and five months, with the possibility of 15 percent “good time” credit on the sentence, Dis­trict Court Judge Norbert Marek said.

Buchheit had filed the motion to withdraw his no contest plea to the rape charge, which stemmed from alleged sexual activities between between August of 2008 and Janu­ary of 2015 involving a girl who is now 17 years old and was filed minutes before a jury trial on that and 10 other charges was set to be­gin in February. He was arrested on the charges in February of 2015.

He had filed the motion to with­draw the plea, which set aside all but the rape charge, two days after the plea deal was accepted, citing “ineffective counsel” from his for­mer defense attorney, J. Richard Lake of Holton, and stating that he was “under psycho­logical pressure” to make the deal.

On Friday, Judge Marek, how­ever, said he saw Buchheit’s mo­tion to withdraw the plea as a last-ditch gambit from “a sophisticated consumer” who was experiencing “buyer’s remorse” about the plea deal.

The motion to withdraw, the judge continued, was not the result of “a lot of deep thinking,” but at­tempts at “delay and manipulation” that began at the start of the inves­tigation against Buchheit and went through three attorneys — Russell Roe of Onaga, then Lake, and now Buchheit’s present attorney, John Kurth of Atchison.

Taking the witness stand on Fri­day for the first time, Buchheit re­peated his assertions that Lake had not made himself available enough to properly represent him in the months leading up to the trial. And at the time of the trial, Buchheit ar­gued, he accepted the plea deal “because I felt it was the only op­tion I had.”

Lake, on the other hand, testified that he had given Buchheit “as much time as I could and, I believe, all the time that he needed” in pre­paring for the trial. He also told Judge Marek that he did not threaten or trick Buchheit into en­tering the no contest plea.

Jackson County Attorney Shawna Miller told Buchheit in cross-examination that by pleading no contest to a Level 1 felony rather than an “offgrid” felony, “you saved yourself a life sen­tence.” Miller also asserted that Buchheit told the court that he un­derstood what he was doing in fil­ing the motion to withdraw.

“You’re wanting to set aside this plea because you changed your mind?” she asked Buchheit.

“Yes,” Buchheit replied.

After the motion to withdraw the plea was denied, Buchheit’s ex-wife, Crystal Buchheit offered a final statement to Judge Marek before sentencing was pronounced.

“Keep him away from the public as long as possible,” Crystal Buchheit told the judge.

In addition to the prison time, the sentencing handed down by Judge Marek requires Buchheit to register as a sex offender and be subject to post-release supervision, both for the rest of his life, after his release from prison.