dme court

A Common Pleas Court judge denied a Florida man’s request to withdraw the guilty plea he entered in November 2023 to charges accusing him and his son of using distraction to rob senior citizens in Butler and several other counties.

Judge Joseph Kubit denied the motion from Steven Nichols, 57, who failed to appear for his scheduled sentencing hearing in February 2024 and was arrested on a warrant in March of this year.

His son, Archie Marino, 39, pleaded guilty and is serving the three and a half to 10 year prison sentence he received at the February 2024 sentencing hearing.

Nichols, who was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair, testified that he has poor hearing and can’t read. He said he did not commit the burglaries and he lied during the Nov. 8 plea hearing when he said he understood the plea agreement because he was embarrassed about being unable to read.

“I was never at the burglaries. No one ID’d me,” Nichols said

He said he told his then-attorney Stephen Colafella he doesn’t hear well and can’t read, but he still initialed and signed a plea agreement document that Colafella prepared.

Nichols said he agreed to plead guilty because Colafella told him the evidence was circumstantial and he could have had him acquitted, but it would have resulted in implicating his son.

In addition, he said he didn’t care about the plea hearing and was “in a different zone” at the time due to the deaths of his two daughters.

“He could hear,” Colafella testified. He said Tuesday’s hearing was the first time he heard Nichols couldn’t read and had hearing problems. “We spoke often.”

He said he would have read the plea agreement document to Nichols if he thought he had difficulty reading. Nichols initialed and signed the document, which includes a statement that he can read, write and understand English, he said.

Colafella said he had no issues communicating with Nichols and Nichols had no difficulty understanding what he explained to him.

Nichols’ wife was present when he retained him as his attorney in August 2023 and she didn’t say he had a hearing issue, Colafella said.

He said he knew Nichols had some health issues and Nichols told the probation officer who prepared his presentence investigation report that he had no family and grew up in a traveling circus with a tutor providing his education.

Colafella said he had numerous conversations with Nichols, especially as he was negotiating the plea agreement with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, but he had difficulty reaching him as the sentencing hearing date approached.

He said his last contact with Nichols was a text message from Nichols on the day of the sentencing hearing Feb. 14, 2024, saying he was going to a hospital due to trouble with his heart.

When Nichols didn’t appear for the sentencing hearing, Judge Maura Palumbi said she wanted proof of his hospital visit, Colafella said. He said he had no proof of the visit and Palumbi issued an arrest warrant the next day.

Colafella didn’t represent Nichols at his preliminary hearing, but, according to the transcript, none of the alleged victims identified him as the burglar. The attorney general’s case is based on car rentals, plane tickets, credit card use and cellphone tracking data that allegedly placed Nichols in the vicinity of the burglaries, he said.

He said Archie Marino was identified by some of the witnesses.

Kubit said he will issue an order scheduling Nichols’ sentencing hearing.

According to testimony from Nichols’ and Marino’s preliminary hearing in March 2022, they would arrive unannounced at senior citizens’ homes. One of them would pose as a utility worker and talk to the alleged victims about phone, water or electrical work. After the pair left, most of the victims said they discovered cash, jewelry and valuable coins had been stolen.