A 33-year-old man who was due to be sentenced Friday for sex trafficking told a federal judge in Santa Ana that he wanted to withdraw his plea because he claimed his attorney signed it for him and now denies raping a victim in the Angeles National Forest.
In court docunments, Leslie Anthony Bailey had appeared to admit that he had picked up a woman from a “fentanyl treatment facility” on Feb. 5, 2022, supplied her with the drug and then “forced” her to work as a prostitute in Anaheim. Prosecutors said when the woman said she wanted to go back to the drug treatment facility he instead took her to the forest “where he sexually assaulted her and abandoned her on the side of a remote mountain highway.”
But at his sentencing hearing Bailey told U.S. District Judge John Holcomb ”I didn’t sign that plea agreement.” He said he was “not in the right mindset. I was in the hole,” when he pleaded guilty in April. The defendant said his attorney told him, “If the judge asks you tell him you signed that” plea agreement. He went on to deny the rape allegation against him.
Bailey said he would “take responsibility for what I did… Yes, I was running a prostitution deal, but I didn’t rape anyone or kidnap anyone.” He added that, “I do dispute what was said, but I’m trying to preserve what shred of attorney-client privilege I have left.”
About a year after the alleged rape, ”defendant used force and threats of force to cause another victim… to engage in commercial sex work at his direction,” prosecutors said. ”Bailey’s `criminal history reflects a pattern of violent behavior, and prior sentences were clearly not sufficient to deter him from engaging in similar behavior… To the contrary — defendant’s violent tendencies appear to have escalated.”
Evans said his client has completed multiple programs while in custody as well as educational programs for Spanish literacy. Bailey suffers from “acute anxiety” and has spent a significant time in isolation while in custody, his attorney said.
The woman who prosecutors said was raped has since died, Evans said in his sentencing brief.
“Her death, unrelated to Mr. Bailey’s conduct, underscores that her addiction was a persistent struggle that pre-dated and outlived the charged conduct,” Evans wrote as he argued against a bump-up in punishment due to a legal standard for “vulnerable victims.”
Federal prosecutors said in court papers the defendant should be sentenced to 30 years in prison. Bailey’s attorney is arguing for a term of 19 years and seven months.
Judge Holcomb scheduled a sentencing date for Oct. 2 to give Leslie Anthony Bailey time to further discuss his case with his attorney, Jonathan Evans, who said he was ”caught a little off guard” by Bailey’s pivot.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Sepncer said she would resist any move to withdraw the plea.
Bailey “was under oath” at the change-of-plea hearing.
“He indicated he signed the plea agreement,” Spencer said. “He heard the factual basis (as it was read aloud).”