A Minnesota man who admitted trying to frame his neighbor by sending threatening e-mail to Vice President Joe Biden using the neighbor's Wi-Fi now wants to withdraw his guilty plea, arguing that he himself was framed.
The imprisoned defendant, Barry Ardolf, wrote the judge presiding over his case Thursday that he was innocent, that his attorney "coerced" his plea, and that he was "sleep-deprived" and sharing a cell with a double murderer "who was terrorizing me," when he pleaded guilty to six charges of computer hacking and child porn in December. He faces decades behind bars pending an unscheduled sentencing hearing.
Ardolf, following a dispute with his neighbor, allegedly hacked into the neighbor's Wi-Fi, set up Yahoo e-mail accounts in his neighbor's name, and then sent e-mail to Biden reading in part "I swear to God I'm going to kill you!"
The 45-year-old would have soon been freed from prison if he had taken an earlier 2-year plea deal.
He balked at the deal in June, and the prosecution added more charges, (.pdf) including identity theft and two child-porn accusations. The new counts alleged that, in addition to the Biden threat, Ardolf sent e-mail from his neighbor's account to that same neighbor's co-workers. One of the messages contained child pornography, according to the indictment.
In the end, he pleaded guilty to six charges in December, and now claims he's innocent.
Among other things, he contends he has an alibi, that the authorities "never spent any resources investigating anybody else," and there was "no chain of custody with the data evidence."
Finally, he argues, there's evidence his neighbor actually framed him (.pdf).
"If granted another trial, I can show the jury the possibility that [the neighbor] used my Wi-Fi to send fabricated evidence to my computers. That certainly leads to a credible doubt that I'm guilty. It reinforces the 'framed' argument my former attorney suggested.'"
"Your honor," he wrote U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank, "I say that it is not a waste of resources if an innocent man is not convicted of a crime."
Photo: Vice President Joe Biden (David Lienemann/White House)
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