Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Arraignment Pleas topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State Court takes guilty pleas and nolo contendere pleas in multiple cases during April 15 arraignment calendar
Summary
On April 15, 2025, Judge Tammy Long Hayward accepted pleas in a string of cases on the jail calendar. Sentences included suspended portions, probation, community-service requirements and, in at least one case, First Offender status.
State Court Judge Tammy Long Hayward accepted a series of pleas during the April 15 jail and arraignment calendar and imposed sentences ranging from suspended jail time with probation to fines and community service.
Among the outcomes: Jesse Deocean Morris (case 2021CR07922) pleaded guilty to DUI per se; Judge Hayward sentenced him to 12 months, with 24 hours credited for time served, the balance suspended and probated with a $500 fine, 40 hours of community service, a substance-abuse evaluation and completion of a risk-reduction course. Defense counsel Taz Taylor told the court the case dated from 2019 and asked the court to accept the negotiated sentence. The judge said of the offense: “what you did was reprehensible. You could have hurt yourself. You could have hurt someone else. You could have killed someone.”
Marisha Cooper (2021CR08269) pleaded guilty to theft by shoplifting; the court accepted a negotiated recommendation of 12 months probation, a theft-prevention course and 40 hours of community service under the First Offender Act; the state said it would prepare a bench warrant recall because Cooper had an outstanding warrant related to address issues.
Other pleas and dispositions recorded on the calendar included negotiated pleas and nolo contendere pleas to criminal trespass and related misdemeanors for defendants including Antoine Marquis Martin (2025CR03229) — plea to criminal trespass with the state dismissing a public-transportation charge and recommending 12 months with 50 days credit for time served and conditions not to return to the incident location — and several defendants charged with trespass at airport or retail locations who received probationable or suspended sentences contingent on avoiding the specified locations.
In each plea colloquy the judge explained rights forfeited by a plea (jury trial, confrontation, burden of proof) and accepted factual bases supplied by prosecutors or officers. Several defendants were given credit for time served and told to report to probation staff for intake and supervision. The court repeatedly reminded defendants that failure to report for probation can result in arrest and revocation of First Offender protections.
The hearing also included a number of bond matters and motions that were heard separately; several cases were continued while counsel and probation staff worked through logistics. The court offered community resources such as Covenant House information when young defendants indicated housing instability.
