The state Superior Court has denied an appeal by an Eldred man
serving life in prison for the 1991 murder of a convenience store
clerk in Bradford.
Louis Roach, 55, had appealed an order by President Judge John
Cleland which denied his request to withdraw his guilty plea to
first-degree murder in the case.
On March 22, 1991, between 11:30 and 11:45 p.m., Roach entered
the Crosby Mini Mart on South Kendall Avenue and stabbed night
clerk Elleen Klenk, 51, to death during the course of robbing the
store.
Roach was eventually identified as the killer through a
description of him and his car by a witness near the store in the
time frame of the murder; through tire tracks found at the scene;
and through blood evidence found on Roach when he was apprehended
the next morning.
Roach pleaded guilty on May 8, 1992 – a Friday. He was to stand
trial the following Monday morning. In November of 1992, Roach
attempted to withdraw his plea on the grounds of ineffective legal
counsel. He alleged his former attorneys – then-assistant Public
Defender Joe Marasco and Dennis Luttenauer of Kane – did not
investigate all the witnesses possible, did not properly
investigate a psychiatric defense and failed to properly
investigate and prepare an intoxication defense.
Cleland denied the request to withdraw the plea, saying that a
manifest injustice must be shown to allow for a plea to be
withdrawn. Cleland ruled that was not the case with Roach, as Roach
had been questioned extensively when entering his plea and the
standards for manifest injustice were not met.
Cleland said Roach testified “under oath that he committed the
crime, that he was aware of the penalty, that he had the
opportunity to discuss it with counsel, that they’d answered his
questions, he had no questions he wanted to ask, that there was no
reason why he was mentally confused or disoriented and he was
knowingly and voluntarily pleading guilty because he did it and he
knew what the consequences of that offense would be.”
The Superior Court upheld Cleland’s ruling in an order entered
Aug. 18.
