Colin Abbott

A lawyer said Colin Abbott is trying to withdraw from the plea deal that spared his life but put him in prison for up to 80 years.

Abbott’s mother also said her son told her that he wanted to withdraw his plea.

However, no one has seen the request, allegedly written and mailed Thursday by Abbott from prison.

Abbott, 42, pleaded no contest Feb. 26 to two counts of third-degree murder: one count for his father, Kenneth Abbott, 65, and another for his stepmother, Celeste Abbott, 55.

Prosecutors believe Colin Abbott was attempting to cover up $2 million in bad debt to his father and to inherit his $4 million estate when he shot the couple to death in June 2011. Investigators found the couples’ remains burned and scattered on their 25-acre Brady Township estate on July 13, 2011.

A no contest plea does not acknowledge guilt. Rather, it implies the defendant does not want to fight the case against him at a trial. For sentencing purposes, it’s given the same weight as a guilty plea.

In exchange for Abbott’s plea, prosecutors agreed to drop their intention to seek convictions of first-degree murder and the death penalty, and instead recommended the 35-80 year state sentence, which was imposed the next day by Butler County Judge William Shaffer.

On Friday, an attorney representing the estate of Kenneth Abbott asked county Judge S. Michael Yeager to bar Abbott from inheriting any of his father’s money. Under the state’s Slayer’s Act, a person is forbidden from profiting from a death in which he played a role.

But the attorney representing Abbott in that orphan’s court matter, H. Craig Hinkle of Pittsburgh, successfully asked Yeager to delay a decision on the Slayer’s Act request. Hinkle told the judge in court that Abbott was seeking to withdraw his plea in criminal court.

Hinkle told Yeager that Abbott has 10 days from the day of his plea to withdraw it, and that Abbott had written and mailed that request Thursday. Hinkle said the request was mailed from the county prison just before Abbott was moved to the state prison in Pittsburgh.

Hinkle, who does not represent Abbott in the criminal case, said only that his client was seeking to withdraw his plea for “multiple reasons.”

However, as of close of work on Friday, Abbott’s alleged request was not on record or was not received at the clerk of court’s office, the chambers of either Judge Shaffer or Judge Yeager or the county district attorney’s office.

Abbott’s mother, Deborah Buchanan of New Jersey, when reached by telephone Friday, confirmed that her son had told her he had mailed the request seeking to withdraw his plea. Buchanan referred all other questions to the attorney who is representing Abbott in criminal court, Wendy Williams of Pittsburgh. Williams did not return a call seeking comment.

Even if Abbott did write such a document, it’s unknown if the judge would approve such a request or if the courts would accept it.

County Clerk of Courts Lisa Lotz said she could not comment on this specific request because she had not seen it.

However, she said generally speaking, when her office receives a court request from a defendant who already has a lawyer of record, the office follows state rules of criminal procedure: “We put it on record, then we mail a copy to the commonwealth and the prosecutor.”

The request would then have to be refiled by the attorney to get a court date.

County Assistant District Attorney Ben Simon, who prosecuted the case, said his office had not received any communication from Abbott as of Friday afternoon.

Simon noted that Abbott, who already has been sentenced, does not have an absolute right to withdraw his plea.

“A post sentence motion is subject to higher scrutiny by the sentencing court,” Simon said. “The defendant must demonstrate that a ‘manifest injustice’ would result if the court were to deny his motion to withdraw his plea.”