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Viola man serving 15 years has guilty plea vacated

30-year-old Alex Cady of Viola has been in prison for almost two years for an armed violence charge.

But an appellate court decision this week has vacated his guilty plea saying Cady had ineffective counsel that led him to believe he had no choice but to accept a plea deal that would put in prison for 15 to 45 years.

Cady’s attorney for the plea was then-Mercer County Public Defender Daniel Dalton, who was recently appointed as an Associate Judge in the 14th Judicial Circuit.

Cady and his co-defendant, 29-year-old Donavan Smith of Sherrard, were arrested for allegedly selling a stolen gun to an undercover police officer.

He had faced charges that included possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of being a felon in possession of a weapon.

Cady had a separate firearm on him while selling a stolen firearm to an undercover officer.

Armed violence is a charge that’s filed if a gun is used in the commission of a felony, but that excludes felonies where the firearm is central to crime.

Cady argued, and the appellate court agreed, that he couldn’t have been convicted of an armed violence charge at trial.

The court writes that if Cady only had shown up with the gun he intended to sell, he could’ve been charged with possession of a stolen firearm.

Cady has been in custody since June 2018.

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