Man Seeks To Withdraw Guilty Plea In Murder

Wed., Jan. 1, 1997

Associated Press

A man who pleaded guilty two years ago to murdering a Tacoma tavern owner now wants to withdraw the plea. His attorneys say he was mentally incompetent when he entered it.

Attorneys for Henry Lewis Marshall have asked Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohoe to allow Marshall to withdraw his plea of guilty to aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Dennis Griswold. Marshall pleaded guilty Nov. 2, 1994.

Cohoe will schedule hearings on the motion Jan. 7.

Defense attorneys Ron Ness and Judith Mandel, who replaced Marshall’s previous defense lawyers, says Marshall is brain-damaged and suffers from a mental condition that affects his judgment and self-control.

Neuropsychologist James Maxwell will testify that Marshall’s condition can be improved by medication, but Marshall was not taking such medication when he decided to plead guilty, Ness said.

Griswold was killed in a Father’s Day 1994 robbery at his Pub tavern. A jury is scheduled to decide, at a hearing beginning March 31, whether Marshall will be executed or imprisoned for life for the murder. Various appeals have delayed the sentencing for more than two years.

Griswold’s widow, Janyce, said the motion to withdraw the plea is an attempt to force her and her family to drop their insistence that Marshall be executed.

“This is just another attempt to force me to change my mind. But I won’t yield. I think this is just a horrible tactic,” she said.

Griswold and her family hired a lawyer to lobby Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg to seek the death penalty. The family has circulated petitions and held news conferences and has attended every hearing in substantial numbers.

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