Judge rejects Lee's plea

Moscow triple-murderer John Lee’s motion to withdraw his guilty pleas was denied Tuesday by Judge John Stegner at Moscow,

Lee murdered Moscow residents David Trail, Belinda Niebuhr and Terry Grzebielski in the early afternoon of January 10, 2015, and led officers on a high speed car chase that ended on Highway 195 south of Steptoe. He spent his first days of incarceration in Whitman County before he was extradited to Idaho.

Lee pleaded guilty to three counts of first degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in March of 2016 and was sentenced ti life without parole. Prosecutors dropped a request for the death penalty in the plea bargain.

Judge Stegner pointed out Lee avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty. He ruled allowing Lee's motion would result in a “miscarriage of justice.”