A judge has refused to allow a defendant in the Kirtland cult murders to withdraw her guilty plea.
Acting as her own attorney, Deborah Olivarez, now 55, filed a motion last year to withdraw the plea she entered 17 years ago, claiming there was misconduct committed by county prosecutors and the investigating officer.
Olivarez claimed she was repeatedly told by then-Lake County Prosecutor Steven LaTourette that she would only serve five years in prison. She also accused LaTourette, now a congressman, of bribing her with money, soda and fast food during co-defendant Ron Luff's trial.
"Prosecutor Steven LaTourette told defendant, 'I will pay you $50 if you will just say that you are guilty.' Prosecutor LaTourette provided me with Diet Coke from his personal supply and provided me with food, i.e. McDonald's, Burger King, Chinese and other drinks as a way to buy my testimony," she wrote in her motion. LaTourette denied the allegations.
"She provided valuable testimony against other defendants in the cult case, but these allegations she raises now for the first time are beyond ridiculous," LaTourette said after the motion was filed. "It defies logic that somebody could be induced to plead guilty to five counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder ... for 50 bucks and some free Diet Coke." Olivarez also claimed she had an "intimate relationship" with Kirtland police Sgt. Ronald Andolsek while she was released from jail on bond in 1990 to have back surgery.
The sergeant previously denied that accusation.
Olivarez was seeking a jury trial.
"Defendant will demonstrate that her plea was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel and by the state violating defendant's plea agreement," she stated.
But Chief Assistant Prosecutor Karen Kowall convinced Lake County Common Pleas Judge Eugene A. Lucci to dismiss the case on legal principles.
By law, a defendant cannot raise or litigate any defense or alleged lack of due process that she raised or should have raised at appeal.
"Defendant has not offered any proof to substantiate her claims and has failed to establish any basis for her motion to withdraw her guilty plea," Kowall stated in her opposing brief.
"(Olivarez) has not provided any evidence which would warrant withdrawal of the guilty plea other than her own self-serving allegations."
Olivarez remains at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville since being sentenced in 1991 to serve seven to 25 years.
Prosecutors have credited her with extensive cooperation in helping them convict her 12 co-defendants.
Cult leader Jeffrey Lundgren was executed in 2006 for shooting a family of five to death and burying their bodies in makeshift graves in April 1989.
Olivarez previously attempted to get her plea thrown out by claiming it was not made "voluntarily, intelligently or knowingly."
Those claims were rejected three times without hearings by the 11th District Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court.
However, this was the first time Olivarez raised the allegations of misconduct.
