A Cochise County judge has refused to allow a Sierra Vista man to be released from jail for a month prior to sentencing in five felony cases, despite such an agreement between the prosecutor and defense attorney.
Judge Laura Cardinal ruled July 20 that Wayne Houghton III must remain in the Cochise County jail until his sentencing hearing next month when the judge will formally order Houghton to prison for 1.5 years. The sentence stems from Houghton’s guilty pleas to five felonies from five different cases.
Houghton, 34, will also have to serve 3 years of probation upon his release from prison.
Rule 7.2 of Arizona’s Rules of Criminal Procedures normally requires a defendant who is going to be sentenced to prison to be taken into custody at the time of a guilty plea, but Public Defender Patricia Leon Enriquez and Kristina Guerrero-Sisneroz of the Cochise County Attorney’s Office included a provision in Houghton’s plea deal allowing his release from jail without bail to handle some “personal matters” while awaiting sentencing on Aug. 16.
Cardinal, however, rejected the provision, noting Houghton was pleading guilty to five felonies committed over nearly 18 months, including a 2019 DUI with a suspended license and a 2020 domestic violence charge.
The judge also noted Houghton did not have his own residence nor transportation, and he had admitted using methamphetamine as recently as April. In addition, Cardinal pointed out the much higher prison sentence [7 years] she could be required to impose if Houghton fails to show for sentencing or commits a new crime while released.
With Houghton’s addiction to meth, a pre-sentencing release was not in his best interest nor the public’s, the judge explained.
In response, Houghton told Cardinal he only accepted the plea deal because it would get him out of jail for a few weeks before going to prison. The judge then gave leave to Houghton’s court-appointed attorney to file a motion asking the plea agreement to be vacated, “if that is what Mr. Houghton really wants.”
Such a motion would cause all 16 original charges contained in the five cases to be reinstated against Houghton without any claim of double jeopardy. Houghton faces more than 15 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
