Man serving life sentence says attorney misled him

Kim Smith

Friday, June 15, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

A Las Vegas man facing a life sentence for drugging and sexually assaulting three women on videotape wants to back out of his plea agreement, alleging his attorney told him he would be released in 10 years.

In addition to misleading him about his sentence, Clarence 'Jim' Dozier, 41, told District Judge Mark Gibbons Thursday that his attorney, James "Bucky" Buchanan, neglected to fully explain the rest of the plea agreement he signed in April.

Under the plea agreement, Dozier pleaded guilty to four of the 27 counts he was charged with in November. Three of the counts were sexual assault and the fourth is administering a drug in the commission of a felony.

Each of the sexual assault counts carry a 10-years-to-life sentence and the drug charge a one-to-10-year sentence. It was going to be up to Gibbons whether to run the sentences one after the other or at the same time.

Dozier told Gibbons that when the judge asked him if he read and understood the plea agreement in April, he said yes at Buchanan's urging and because he was "devastated" by a recent ruling in the case.

Dozier said he now wants to take his chance with a jury with his new attorney, Stan Walton.

Gibbons agreed to allow Dozier to withdraw from the plea after Buchanan testified that he can't remember exactly what he told Dozier to convince him to sign the deal.

When Walton said he would not be ready to go to trial next week, however, Gibbons changed his mind.

Gibbons scheduled another hearing for Monday to decide what should happen next.

Dozier was arrested on 27 felony charges in November after one of the women woke up while being sexually assaulted and called the police.

Police, who suspect Dozier used a prescription sedative to knock the women out, seized at least one videotape of the sexual assaults.

The charges Dozier pleaded guilty to stem from three incidents involving two women.

Dozier pleaded guilty during a pre-trial hearing at which prosecutors showed Gibbons a videotape seized from Dozier and Gibbons agreed a jury should be allowed to view it at trial.

It was that decision that Dozier said he was "devastated" by.