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Lawyer fails his client, judge rules
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With the court calling one attorney’s failure to do his job a “manifest injustice,” Judge Bart Stanley allowed a convicted felon to withdraw his guilty plea.The move will save the defendant three years in prison as he entered a new plea agreement.The defendant, Joshua Neal, 26, entered his new guilty pleas before Judge Stanley to charges of initiating the process to manufacture meth and rioting. He was issued an eight-year sentence for the two charges, his sentence to run in addition to time he owes in DeKalb County on charges there.The eight years is three less than the 11 years he was given in January when he entered his original plea to charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and initiating the process to manufacture meth.The issues which led to his new plea agreement began in January when Neal entered his plea agreement before Stanley. He asked to rescind the agreement shortly thereafter.