Man charged with lewd conduct says he was ‘not clear of mind’ when signing plea deal

Published at 9:16 am, June 9, 2018

Natalia Hepworth, EastIdahoNews.com

IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls man accused of sexually abusing a young boy appeared in court Tuesday to change his plea from not guilty — except he didn’t.

Stacey Pearson signed the plea agreement last Thursday, according to his defense attorney, Rocky Wixom.

“It’s a heavy plea agreement,” Wixom said in court. “I think he’s had second thoughts since.”

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Dewey said Pearson was scheduled to go to a jury trial hearing Tuesday, but the hearing had been vacated as a plea agreement was drafted.

Pearson said Tuesday in court that he has mental issues such as bipolar disorder, and that he was “not really in my right state of mind,” when the deal was signed.

Wixom said in court Pearson was requesting to view his psychosexual evaluation with a family member, and Wixom was not comfortable with his client reviewing that in jail.

Shortly after that information was presented to the court, Pearson requested a new defense attorney without having a prior conversation with his attorney.

“I feel I’m not being represented the way I should be,” Pearson said.

Wixom said it could pose a threat to Pearson to have the psychosexual evaluation be reviewed in the jail.

Wixom requested in court that Pearson receive a mental health evaluation before moving forward with court proceedings, but he is somewhat confident the evaluation may prove Pearson competent.

Now a status conference is to be held June 12 to see what the next step is in the case.

Pearson was originally charged in August 2017. Alleged incidents began happening when the victim was 12 years old in February 2013. Court documents state the abuse continued until February 2017.

The victim, who was known to Pearson, told detectives during an interview that Pearson tried committing sexual acts with him on more than one occasion at various locations.

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