Sandusky County judge refuses convict's request to change plea

2/5/2010

FREMONT — A Sandusky County Common Pleas Court judge has ruled that a Gibsonburg woman in prison for ordering the shooting of an Oak Harbor man may not withdraw her guilty plea.

Judge Barbara Ansted said Christy Claussen, 50, stated under oath in 2001 when she pleaded guilty to complicity to attempted aggravated murder that she lured Jared Skinner to a site in Ballville Township so that he would be shot by Tyrias Johnson of Toledo. Claussen also gave a lengthy remorse-filled statement to the court before she was sentenced.

Claussen filed a motion last year claiming she had ineffective counsel at the time of her plea and that Johnson, her co-defendant, had recanted his statements implicating her in the crime. An evidentiary hearing on the matter was held in September.