Stidham wants to withdraw pleas

A woman accused of threatening to kill her husband with his own .22 caliber pistol has asked to withdraw her pleas in two cases.

Cindy R. Stidham, born in 1966, had pleaded guilty to a possession of methamphetamine charge filed in January and pleaded no contest to an assault with a weapon charge and a partner or family member assault charge stemming from an alleged incident last summer.

Friday, her attorney said she wished to withdraw her pleas, made under a plea agreement.

Judge Dan Boucher had rescheduled the sentencing hearing after noting last Monday that in the presentence investigation interviews Stidham appeared to raise questions of her guilt and appeared to be straying from the agreed-upon sentences made in the plea agreement.

Stidham, who was arrested June 20 on a charge of attempted murder and drug charges, later was charged in state District Court with assault with a weapon, a felony, and was charged with two counts of partner or family member assault, a count of possession of dangerous drugs and a count of possession of drug paraphernalia, all misdemeanors.

She was arrested in January, the fourth time she was arrested while out on bond awaiting trial on those charges, and charged with a felony count of possession of methamphetamine.

The plea agreement recommended Stidham be sentenced to 10 years with eight suspended on the assault charge, a six-month sentence on the partner assault and a five-year suspended sentence on the 2014 drug charge.

PSI reports are not public record, and Stidham’s comments in the interviews are not available.

Boucher ordered Stidham’s attorney to file motions requesting she withdraw her pleas.

She was in the Hill County jail this morning on $50,000 bond on a charge of violating conditions of her release.