Giveaway House defendant resets change-of-plea hearing

In an unusual turn of events in state District Court Monday afternoon, defendant Sheila Forshee, who was representing herself, left the courtroom after she was denied a no contest plea but  came back and had a change of plea hearing reset for Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.

Judge Daniel Boucher asked Forshee, who has pleaded not guilty to theft by a common scheme and deceptive practices, if she would be pleading guilty and Forshee said she wanted to plead no contest because she was not guilty.

Boucher said he would not accept that and Forshee left the courtroom.

Pleading no contest means the accused does not admit guilt but admits that the prosecution would likely convict them if the case went to trial. The criminal justice system proceeds in the same manner as if the defendant pleaded guilty.

Court minutes say court resumed a few minutes later when Forshee had come back, but Boucher expressed "reluctance" to proceed until Forshee had an attorney present.

After Forshee said she believed her attorney would appear for a change-of-plea hearing if it was reset, Boucher set the Wednesday hearing and granted the prosecution a motion to amend the charging document filed against Forshee.

Forshee was charged with taking donations from Walmart she said were going to the Community Giveaway House and instead selling them at Ruth Ann's, a thrift store Forshee operates.

Forshee had been in conflict with other people involved in the  local charity that her grandmother Ruth Nystrom and a friend of Nystrom's, Ann Friesen, formed in the early 1970s, for several years before the alleged thefts of donated merchandise.

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Tim Leeds contributed to this report