Guilty plea stands  for ex-deputy corner

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Robert Barrett

Updated: November 29, 2011 8:21AM

Former deputy coroner Robert Barrett was back in court Thursday regarding a pending motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

Barrett, 42, was sentenced to seven years in prison following his plea of guilt to one count of criminal sexual assault in June. He was accused of committing sex acts with a 16-year-old girl from Dec. 1, 2010, to Jan. 18, 2011.

Additional counts of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse were dropped in exchange for the plea. Barrett, formerly of Lindenhurst, faced up to 30 years in prison if he had been convicted of every count, according to prosecutor Fred Day.

“I brought you in because I was getting mixed signals about what you wanted,” Circuit Judge Daniel Shanes told Barrett.

There were papers on file at the court indicating that Barrett wanted to withdraw his plea and other papers on file that appeared to contradict that, Shanes said.

Barrett said he had considered bringing his case to the appellate court, but was not going to ask to withdraw his plea.

“(There is) no right to reconsider a sentence on a fully negotiated plea like you had,” Shanes said.

Barrett agreed to withdraw all pending motions.

“I will take the plea of guilt,” Barrett said.

He joined the coroner’s office in 2001. He was placed on unpaid administrative leave following his Jan. 16 arrest.

Barrett is in custody of Illinois Department of Corrections at Jacksonville Correctional Center, according to IDOC. His projected parole date is Jan. 3, 2017.