Anthony trying to change guilty plea

bwheaton@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6375

QUICK TAKE

The deadlines Dec. 19: Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton and Sheriff Robert J. Pickell announce that Julius B. Anthony is being charged with three felony counts for failing to register as a sex offender.     Tuesday: The original deadline for Anthony to turn himself in to authorities.     Friday: The new deadline after Pickell extended it because of the holidays and Tuesday's closing of the county courthouse for President Ford's funeral.

FLINT - Former Flint school administrator Julius B. Anthony is trying to withdraw his guilty plea that led to a 2000 sex conviction in Georgia.

Meanwhile, Genesee County Sheriff Robert J. Pickell said Tuesday that he has extended until Friday the deadline for Anthony to turn himself in on three felony charges of failing to register as a sex offender under Michigan law. The deadline had been Tuesday.

Anthony's attorney has filed a motion in Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia to withdraw Anthony's misdemeanor sexual battery plea in connection with 1996 allegations that he fondled a 3-year-old boy at a day care center near Atlanta.

The motion went before a judge Tuesday, but no decision was made. Anthony's attorney is scheduled to reappear in court next Tuesday.

Pickell said the developments in Georgia won't affect the Genesee County charges.

"It's very difficult to get a conviction set aside, particularly when you molest a child," he said. "It's meaningless to me (that Anthony is moving to withdraw the guilty plea). He still violated the law here."

Deidre E. Morris, Anthony's attorney, confirmed she filed the motion to withdraw his guilty plea in Georgia.

"We'll be in touch with the prosecutor's office (in Genesee County)," she said, declining to comment further and saying Anthony would have no comment.

Pickell had given Anthony - who is believed to be living in Georgia - 14 days from the time the Genesee County charges were authorized to turn himself in to authorities, and Tuesday was the 14th day. But he said he extended the deadline because of the holidays and the closing of the county courthouse Tuesday to mark the funeral of former President Ford.

If Anthony doesn't turn himself in by Friday, Pickell said, he will ask authorities in Georgia to arrest him on a warrant. He said he planned to contact Anthony's lawyer today to inform her of the new deadline.

Anthony resigned from the Flint School District on Sept. 25 after a background check turned up his criminal record.

He started working for the district as a consultant in December 2005, and the Board of Education decided in July 2006 to hire him as the school system's executive director of curriculum.

He came to Flint at the recommendation of School Superintendent Walter Milton Jr., a friend and former colleague of Anthony. Milton has said he didn't know of the sex conviction until the background check revealed it.

***